King Luther Capital Management Corp Grows Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

King Luther Capital Management Corp grew its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 14.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,958 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Duke Energy by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,125,000 after purchasing an additional 509,039 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,874,000. Morningstar Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 96.1% in the 4th quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,529,000 after purchasing an additional 387,038 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new stake in Duke Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,278,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $116.36.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of DUK opened at $116.37 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $118.31. The company has a market cap of $89.81 billion, a PE ratio of 29.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $112.55 and a 200 day moving average of $103.97.

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

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 105.03%.

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.