Vanguard Group Inc. Increases Stock Position in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 1.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,716,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,154,783 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.74% of Duke Energy worth $8,934,580,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.7% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 18,684,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,205,070,000 after acquiring an additional 319,001 shares during the period. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% in the first 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% in the first 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 period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.9% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,153,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $994,496,000 after buying an additional 152,542 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on DUK shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $134.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Duke Energy from $131.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $143.00 price target for the company. Finally, Cowen started coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $138.63.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $123.88 on Wednesday. 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 fifty-two week low of $105.20 and a fifty-two week high of $130.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $124.33 and a 200-day moving average of $120.95. The stock has a market cap of $96.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.05 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.51 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.85% and a net margin of 15.51%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.62 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.065 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $4.26 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

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.