Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Cypress Capital Group

Cypress Capital Group lessened its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 20.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,620 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,956,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 5.8% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $670,000 after acquiring an additional 377 shares during the period. Vident Advisory LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 35,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,471,000 after buying an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth about $36,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 9,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $908,000 after acquiring an additional 2,120 shares during the period. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 12.5% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 24,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,387,000 after acquiring an additional 2,740 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $113.78 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $88.73 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.21 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.56. The firm has a market cap of $87.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.92, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy 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.