Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Position Boosted by Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC

Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 160,042.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,203 shares during the period. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,124,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 10.0% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 112,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,231,000 after buying an additional 10,162 shares in the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 48.1% during the second quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 42,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,272,000 after buying an additional 13,846 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.3% during the second quarter. Legacy Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 5,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $582,000 after buying an additional 238 shares in the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 39.6% during the second quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 7,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $762,000 after buying an additional 2,156 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Research & Management Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.4% during the second quarter. Boston Research & Management Inc. now owns 45,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,592,000 after buying an additional 617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on DUK. 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 research note on Monday, August 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $116.36.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $116.37 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $89.81 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $112.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $103.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $118.31.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

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

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.