Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,257 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 2,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $260,000.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $823,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. BCS Wealth Management acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $203,000. LexAurum Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $216,000. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 98,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,320,000 after purchasing an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 158.9% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 5,206 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $120.76 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $85.79 and a 52 week high of $120.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market capitalization of $93.20 billion, a PE ratio of 30.34, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $115.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $106.74.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 105.03%.

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.