Petra Financial Advisors Inc. Has $582,000 Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Petra Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 12.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 576 shares during the quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $582,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Duality Advisers LP boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 57.8% during the first quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after purchasing an additional 9,917 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 63.8% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 44,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,324,000 after buying an additional 17,420 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,520,000 after acquiring an additional 9,334 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at about $2,888,000. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth about $1,396,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK traded up $0.87 during trading on Thursday, hitting $114.87. The stock had a trading volume of 216,717 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,024,249. 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 firm has a market cap of $88.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $115.77 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.96. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $86.61 and a one year high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released 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 the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.91 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

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.