Courier Capital LLC Decreases Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Courier Capital LLC cut its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 26.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,493 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,511,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 233.1% during the 3rd quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 17,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 12,073 shares in the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 323.9% during the 3rd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 62,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,558,000 after acquiring an additional 48,119 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 30.5% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 88,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,849,000 after acquiring an additional 20,762 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 220.4% during the 3rd quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC now owns 28,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,513,000 after acquiring an additional 19,587 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $233,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on DUK. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.33.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.4 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $100.22 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $77.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $101.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $97.43. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $104.87.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.20 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $1.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 103.02%.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total transaction of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 4 shares in the company, valued at approximately $409.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,695 shares of company stock valued at $2,750,815 in the last quarter. 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.