Intech Investment Management LLC Sells 1,052 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Intech Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 3.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 26,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,052 shares during the quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,655,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,835,047,000 after purchasing an additional 324,289 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after buying an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,845,000 after acquiring an additional 31,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 15.2% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,101,000 after acquiring an additional 240,136 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.36.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

DUK stock opened at $116.37 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $89.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $118.31. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $112.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $103.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

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, beating 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 period last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

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

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.