Grimes & Company Inc. Purchases 938 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Grimes & Company Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 11.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 938 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after buying an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Duke Energy by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in Duke Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,278,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in Duke Energy by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,111,521,000 after buying an additional 352,320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK stock opened at $119.01 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $91.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $86.61 and a 1 year high of $121.25. 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 $115.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $107.25.

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

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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 is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.85.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of Duke Energy 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The trade was 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 accessible through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.