MJP Associates Inc. ADV Increases Holdings in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

MJP Associates Inc. ADV increased its position in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 21.2% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 5,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 879 shares during the quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $592,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Activest Wealth Management grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 98.1% in the first quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 212 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 105 shares during the last quarter. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 1st quarter worth $27,000. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 53.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mascoma Wealth Management LLC now owns 249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 87 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 360.0% during the 1st quarter. Financial Network Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on DUK. Scotiabank set a $137.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Duke Energy from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Duke Energy from $138.00 to $136.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $138.00 to $141.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Duke Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.63.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock opened at $122.74 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Duke Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $105.20 and a 52-week high of $130.03. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $124.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $120.92.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.06. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 15.51%.The firm had revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.62 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $1.065 dividend. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total transaction 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 approximately $2,438,843.04. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% 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.