Eastern Bank Buys New Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,281 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $609,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 19.9% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 28,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,279,000 after purchasing an additional 4,728 shares during the period. Mattern Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $205,000. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Traphagen Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at about $277,000. Finally, Oakworth Capital Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.5% during the third quarter. Oakworth Capital Inc. now owns 8,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on DUK shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Scotiabank upped their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.6 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $120.57 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $86.61 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $115.40 and its 200 day moving average is $107.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.05 billion, a PE ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 $2,259,617.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.