Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Position Cut by Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV

Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV reduced its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 28.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,338 shares during the quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,865,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its position in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the first quarter worth about $36,278,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have commented on DUK shares. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $114.02 on Thursday. 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 firm has a market cap of $88.05 billion, a PE ratio of 21.00, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $115.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $107.96. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $86.61 and a twelve month high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.98%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.