Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Acquired by Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC

Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 26.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,809 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,226 shares during the quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $582,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DUK. Bank of Nova Scotia boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 92.4% during the fourth quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 171,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,603,000 after buying an additional 82,163 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 47,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,620,000 after buying an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 87,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,531,000 after buying an additional 1,540 shares in the last quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 46.5% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 10,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,061,000 after buying an additional 3,472 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Rafferty Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 85,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,343,000 after buying an additional 7,439 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America upped their price target 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, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $117.07.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $115.30 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $118.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.85. The company has a market capitalization of $88.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.97, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47.

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

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 positive change 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 3.63%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio 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.