Caldwell Trust Co Acquires New Stake in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 33,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,900,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 11,417.7% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 17,668,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,084,917,000 after purchasing an additional 17,515,383 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.5% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 75,716,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,934,580,000 after buying an additional 1,154,783 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 359.1% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,132,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,145,000 after buying an additional 885,900 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 2,682.0% in the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 895,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $109,242,000 after buying an additional 863,453 shares during the period. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 131.9% in the first quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI now owns 1,055,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,737,000 after buying an additional 600,271 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Robert Alexander Glenn sold 8,200 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total transaction of $1,015,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 11,367 shares in the company, valued at $1,407,234.60. The trade was a 41.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on DUK. Wells Fargo & Company raised Duke Energy to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $131.00 to $137.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Scotiabank set a $137.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $131.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $137.06.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of DUK opened at $115.21 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.40. Duke Energy Corporation has a 1-year low of $105.20 and a 1-year high of $130.03. The stock has a market cap of $89.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $123.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.23.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.81 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.75 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $8.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.51 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 15.76%.Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.62 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 14th will be issued a $1.065 dividend. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 66.98%.

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.