Hilltop National Bank Takes Position in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Hilltop National Bank purchased a new stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 7.7% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 291,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,575,000 after acquiring an additional 20,942 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its position in Duke Energy by 9.9% in the 1st quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 127,419 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,451,000 after purchasing an additional 11,445 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its position in Duke Energy by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 51,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,264,000 after purchasing an additional 3,837 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in Duke Energy by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,656,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,055,087,000 after purchasing an additional 93,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Resolution Capital Ltd grew its position in Duke Energy by 7.6% during the first quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 59,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,318,000 after buying an additional 4,255 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 target price on Duke Energy in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $127.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank set a $137.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price target (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $132.25.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $123.58 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.58 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.42. The firm has a market cap of $96.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.44. Duke Energy Corporation has a one year low of $105.20 and a one year high of $127.85.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.04). Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The firm had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $1.065 dividend. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.4%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.27%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Thomas Preston Jr. Gillespie sold 6,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.26, for a total value of $832,542.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,768,397.72. The trade was a 12.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total value of $248,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,438,843.04. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.