California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 17,145 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

California State Teachers Retirement System trimmed its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) by 1.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,243,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 17,145 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $115,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Legend Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 5.0% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,211,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $115,185,000 after acquiring an additional 57,806 shares during the last quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.0% during the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 63,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,894,000 after acquiring an additional 658 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9.0% during the third quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 196,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,279,000 after acquiring an additional 16,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whalerock Point Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 8.8% during the third quarter. Whalerock Point Partners LLC now owns 8,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $791,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. 63.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Louis E. Renjel sold 1,900 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.90, for a total value of $189,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,967 shares in the company, valued at $995,703.30. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $96.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.70. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.76 and a 52 week high of $116.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $99.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $99.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $74.57 billion, a PE ratio of 29.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.42.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.06 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.27 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 9.11%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 17th will be given a $1.005 dividend. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 121.08%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 22nd. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their target price on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $112.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, February 16th. Mizuho raised their target price on Duke Energy from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 9th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Duke Energy from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $106.64.

About Duke Energy

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Duke Energy Corp. engages in the distribution of natural gas and energy related services. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities & Infrastructure and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment conducts operations in regulated electric utilities in the Carolinas, Florida and the Midwest.