Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. Sells 300 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 4.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 300 shares during the period. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $825,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,278,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 3.2% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,111,521,000 after acquiring an additional 352,320 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $119.01 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $115.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.25. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $86.61 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The stock has a market cap of $91.85 billion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, operates as an energy company in the United States. It operates through two segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure (EU&I), and Gas Utilities and Infrastructure (GU&I). The EU&I segment generates, transmits, distributes, and sells electricity in the Carolinas, Florida, and the Midwest.