Harmony Asset Management LLC Has $1.58 Million Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Harmony Asset Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,739 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 135 shares during the period. Harmony Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,577,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in 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 valued at $1,111,521,000 after buying an additional 352,320 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in 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. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,845,000 after buying an additional 31,309 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,101,000 after buying an additional 240,136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $116.37 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $112.55 and a 200-day moving average of $103.97. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $118.31. 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 stock has a market cap of $89.81 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on DUK. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.36.

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.