Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Acquired by Foundations Investment Advisors LLC

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 27.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,656 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,960,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 4.9% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 1,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 41.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $120.57 on Thursday. 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 Co. has a 1 year low of $86.61 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.25. The company has a market cap of $93.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.29, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 105.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’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 value of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company 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.