Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 263 shares during the quarter. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $449,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after purchasing an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after buying an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after buying an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,845,000 after acquiring an additional 31,309 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DUK shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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, BMO Capital Markets boosted 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. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $119.01 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $86.61 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.85 billion, a PE ratio of 29.90, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $115.40 and its 200 day simple moving average is $107.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Company Profile

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.