Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by First National Corp MA ADV

First National Corp MA ADV reduced its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 862 shares during the quarter. First National Corp MA ADV’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,265,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC grew its position in Duke Energy by 41.9% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% in the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 98 shares in the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 3,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% during the 2nd quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. 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. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $118.21.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock traded up $0.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $110.98. 482,986 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,003,815. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $85.79 and a 12 month high of $118.31. The firm has a market cap of $85.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.81, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $114.32 and a 200 day moving average of $105.65.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate 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.