V Square Quantitative Management LLC Has $681,000 Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 179 shares during the quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $681,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,113,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $787,328,000 after purchasing an additional 42,782 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,351,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $228,193,000 after buying an additional 84,227 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE DUK traded up $0.37 on Wednesday, reaching $114.09. The company had a trading volume of 1,026,603 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,954,833. The firm has a market cap of $88.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $116.67. The business has a 50 day moving average of $105.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $99.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $108.92.

Duke Energy 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.