Garner Asset Management Corp Buys 203 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Garner Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.0% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 4,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 203 shares during the period. Garner Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $429,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after purchasing an additional 761,590 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Duke Energy by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,125,000 after acquiring an additional 509,039 shares during the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $41,874,000. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 96.1% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,529,000 after acquiring an additional 387,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,278,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $114.69.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK opened at $115.90 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $118.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The company has a market capitalization of $89.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $112.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $103.58.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, 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 the SEC website. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.