Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. Trims Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Patriot Investment Management Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 89 shares during the period. Patriot Investment Management Group Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position 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 valued at $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40,243 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its position 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 valued at $190,845,000 after purchasing an additional 31,309 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy 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 transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DUK shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $120.15.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of DUK opened at $114.17 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $85.79 and a 1-year high of $118.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $114.38 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.69, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 105.03%.

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.