D Orazio & Associates Inc. Has $243,000 Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

D Orazio & Associates Inc. grew its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 15.2% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 2.1% during 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 raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 41.9% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 1.6% during the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after purchasing an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 3,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.92.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $116.16 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $118.18. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $110.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.68. The firm has a market cap of $89.65 billion, a PE ratio of 29.19, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.46. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.