O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. Acquires 1,343 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 41.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,343 shares during the quarter. O Keefe Stevens Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $530,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 2.1% during the second quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 41.9% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.6% in the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $611,000 after acquiring an additional 98 shares during the last quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 3,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.9% during the second quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 2,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $215,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DUK. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. 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. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target 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. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $118.21.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $110.67 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $85.41 billion, a PE ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.53. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $114.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.54. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $85.79 and a one year high of $118.31.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued 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. 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 quarter last year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.78%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 105.03%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s 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. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently 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.