Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Takes Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 11,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,067,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System now owns 50,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,833,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Rainsberger Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 36.9% during the 1st quarter. Rainsberger Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 10,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,040,000 after purchasing an additional 2,905 shares in the last quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Avidian Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $440,000 after purchasing an additional 798 shares in the last quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 17.6% during the 1st quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,398,000 after purchasing an additional 3,716 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trust Investment Advisors grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 12,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,335,000 after acquiring an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.68% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $95.45 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $73.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 53.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $91.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a current ratio of 0.75. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.76 and a 52-week high of $108.68.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $6.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.16 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 8.05%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.61 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be paid a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.30%. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 229.05%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $101.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 23rd. StockNews.com lowered shares of Duke Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $102.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.92.

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; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, solar and wind sources, renewables, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity.