Beech Hill Advisors Inc. Has $1.51 Million Stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)

Beech Hill Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 1.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 14,268.8% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,858,000 after buying an additional 1,651,608 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 116.5% in the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $222,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,581 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,852,731,000 after purchasing an additional 779,054 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after purchasing an additional 625,008 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $115.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.37. The business has a 50-day moving average of $117.72 and a 200-day moving average of $114.98. Duke Energy Corporation has a 1 year low of $99.21 and a 1 year high of $125.27.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.17. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.40% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DUK. The Goldman Sachs Group raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $125.00 to $132.00 in a report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $125.00 to $124.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price target (up from $126.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.94.

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.