Earnest Partners LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Earnest Partners LLC reduced its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 3.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 10,173 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 383 shares during the period. Earnest Partners LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,020,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 435,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,084,000 after buying an additional 13,406 shares during the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 57.8% in the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 9,917 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S increased its position in Duke Energy by 63.8% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 44,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,324,000 after purchasing an additional 17,420 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P. bought a new position in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth $254,000. Finally, Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,520,000 after purchasing an additional 9,334 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $116.79.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK stock opened at $115.94 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $113.50 and its 200 day simple moving average is $104.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $118.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.48 billion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.