Cullen Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 1,933,412 Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Cullen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,933,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $244,731,000. Duke Energy accounts for 2.4% of Cullen Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUK. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $728,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 19.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,825,000 after acquiring an additional 3,797 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.0% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 31,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,686,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares during the period. AXA S.A. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 523.4% in the 2nd quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 42,233 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,983,000 after purchasing an additional 35,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nebula Research & Development LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $954,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $139.00 to $140.00 in a research note on Monday, May 11th. Mizuho set a $136.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $136.00 to $141.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, KeyCorp upgraded Duke Energy from a “sector weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $139.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $137.94.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.8%

Shares of DUK opened at $121.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $125.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $126.67. Duke Energy Corporation has a one year low of $113.89 and a one year high of $134.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.47, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.31, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 0.38.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.30 by $0.13. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.78% and a net margin of 15.78%.The company had revenue of $7.59 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.66 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.25 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.72 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 14th will be paid a $1.085 dividend. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.06. This represents a $4.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 65.17%.

Duke Energy Profile

Duke Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based electric power holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company’s core business is the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Duke Energy operates a mix of regulated electric utilities and non-regulated energy businesses, providing essential energy infrastructure and services across multiple states.

Its operating activities include owning and operating generation assets across a portfolio that encompasses nuclear, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and an expanding array of renewable resources, as well as battery storage and grid modernization projects.