Czech National Bank Increases Stake in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 189,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,754 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $22,419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,562,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,094,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676,061 shares during the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 17,880.0% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,249,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,250,133,000 after purchasing an additional 10,192,503 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,921,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,088,158,000 after purchasing an additional 418,014 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,656,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,055,087,000 after purchasing an additional 93,699 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,153,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $994,496,000 after purchasing an additional 152,542 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on DUK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $127.00 target price (up previously from $124.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Friday, July 11th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $130.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy news, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total value of $248,760.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 19,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,438,843.04. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Thomas Preston Jr. Gillespie sold 6,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.26, for a total transaction of $832,542.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 46,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,768,397.72. This trade represents a 12.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $120.31 on Wednesday. Duke Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $105.20 and a 12-month high of $127.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $121.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $119.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.04). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 15.51%.The company had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.18 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were paid a dividend of $1.065 per share. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 69.27%.

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.