Lynch & Associates IN Sells 184 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Lynch & Associates IN reduced its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 184 shares during the period. Lynch & Associates IN’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,132,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 109.4% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $425,000 after acquiring an additional 2,285 shares in the last quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 39,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,879,000 after purchasing an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Northwest Financial Advisors purchased a new position in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $62,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 197,419 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,158,000 after buying an additional 38,245 shares during the period. Finally, Buckingham Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Buckingham Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,934 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $285,000 after acquiring an additional 374 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.92.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $116.60 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.30, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $109.51 and a 200-day moving average of $102.17. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $118.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.