Heritage Wealth Management Inc. Makes New Investment in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 18,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,907,000.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after buying an additional 324,289 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after buying an additional 352,320 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after buying an additional 40,243 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% during the first quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $190,845,000 after buying an additional 31,309 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.21.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s 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 owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of DUK opened at $116.22 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.69 billion, a PE ratio of 29.20, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $118.31. 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 company’s 50-day simple moving average is $113.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $105.00.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a $1.045 dividend. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 105.03%.

Duke Energy Company 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.