Fairscale Capital LLC Acquires New Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Fairscale Capital LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $68,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after purchasing an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew 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 buying 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 in the 4th quarter worth $41,874,000. Morningstar Investment Services LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 96.1% during the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,529,000 after buying an additional 387,038 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 1st quarter worth $36,278,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of DUK opened at $116.37 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.24, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $118.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $112.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.97.

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 net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.91 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $117.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.36.

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.