Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT Acquires 424 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT lifted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 424 shares during the quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DUK. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after purchasing an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,081,125,000 after buying an additional 509,039 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $41,874,000. Morningstar Investment Services LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,529,000 after buying an additional 387,038 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $36,278,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Scotiabank upped their price objective 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. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.69.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.7 %

DUK opened at $115.90 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $118.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $112.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $103.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.