Principal Financial Group Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Principal Financial Group Inc. lowered its position in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 0.5% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,011,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,630 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $125,167,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Simon Quick Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 42.2% in the second quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 7,444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $878,000 after acquiring an additional 2,210 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 37.7% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 41,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,153,000 after purchasing an additional 11,409 shares during the last quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 13.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 88,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,892,000 after purchasing an additional 10,108 shares during the period. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 274,630 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,985,000 after purchasing an additional 27,820 shares during the period. Finally, Greystone Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Greystone Financial Group LLC now owns 93,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,604,000 after buying an additional 10,580 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Duke Energy News

Here are the key news stories impacting Duke Energy this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Duke publicly thanked customers in the Carolinas for cutting usage during the cold snap, saying conservation helped reduce peak load and avoided emergency outages — a short?term reliability win that limits emergency procurement costs. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Duke issued a similar thank?you to Florida customers, noting voluntary reductions helped the system — another indicator the company managed demand without major interruptions. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Duke repeatedly urged customers across the Carolinas and Florida to reduce morning usage to avoid temporary outages — this is management acting to mitigate risk, but it also signals elevated system stress that could require costly backstop measures if conservation hadn’t occurred. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Widespread media coverage (local outlets and national aggregators) amplified the firm’s conservation requests and the risk narrative around winter demand; this increases investor attention but doesn’t by itself change fundamentals. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Market coverage noted Duke’s shares lagging the broader market (price down), reflecting investor caution: extreme weather raises the prospect of higher near?term operating and purchased?power costs, plus execution risk on reliability — factors that can pressure the stock. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $143.00 to $140.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $137.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $132.00 to $140.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on Duke Energy from $136.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, December 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $126.00 to $115.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $134.50.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Robert Alexander Glenn sold 8,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $123.80, for a total value of $1,015,160.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 11,367 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,407,234.60. This represents a 41.91% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.5%

Duke Energy stock opened at $119.48 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Corporation has a 12-month low of $110.51 and a 12-month high of $130.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a current ratio of 0.63 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.91 billion, a PE ratio of 18.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.50. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $121.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.75 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $8.54 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.51 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.98% and a net margin of 15.76%.The company’s revenue was up 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.62 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 13th will be issued a dividend of $1.065 per share. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 13th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

About Duke Energy

Duke Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based electric power holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company’s core business is the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers. Duke Energy operates a mix of regulated electric utilities and non-regulated energy businesses, providing essential energy infrastructure and services across multiple states.

Its operating activities include owning and operating generation assets across a portfolio that encompasses nuclear, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and an expanding array of renewable resources, as well as battery storage and grid modernization projects.