New Century Financial Group LLC Purchases 158 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

New Century Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the quarter. New Century Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $267,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.0% during the third quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $378,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,172,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 578,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $66,671,000 after purchasing an additional 19,295 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on DUK shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Insider Activity

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $120.76 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $85.79 and a 52-week high of $120.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $106.82.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 105.03%.

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.