Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Stock Holdings Lifted by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 17.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 8,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $831,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DUK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 324,289 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd 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. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.6% in the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,845,000 after purchasing an additional 31,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 15.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,101,000 after buying an additional 240,136 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 15th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Bank of America raised their price target on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $114.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $116.72 on Wednesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $83.06 and a 12 month high of $118.31. The company has a market capitalization of $90.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.33, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $111.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $103.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities 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 was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s dividend 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.