Wedmont Private Capital Has $906,000 Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 539 shares during the period. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,164.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,031,000 after buying an additional 968,723 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,599,000 after buying an additional 842,458 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 242.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,348,000 after buying an additional 739,112 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 273.2% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 766,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,635,000 after buying an additional 561,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 437,464 shares in the company, valued at approximately $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Duke Energy news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total value of $1,027,900.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 68,657 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,057,253.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 26,695 shares of company stock worth $2,750,815 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $99.84 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $100.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $77.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $83.06 and a 12 month high of $104.87.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The company’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $1.025 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.02%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.75.

Duke Energy 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.