Bailard Inc. Purchases 128 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Bailard Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 25,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 128 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,601,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DUK. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 4,163.9% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 882,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,352,000 after purchasing an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Duke Energy by 11.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,599,000 after acquiring an additional 842,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,081,125,000 after purchasing an additional 509,039 shares in the last quarter. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $41,874,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,529,000 after purchasing an additional 387,038 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $113.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $106.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $100.80. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $116.67. The firm has a market cap of $87.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This is an increase from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.85.

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.