Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Norway Savings Bank

Norway Savings Bank cut its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 19,587 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 330 shares during the quarter. Norway Savings Bank’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. now owns 5,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $610,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.4% in the first quarter. Kovack Advisors Inc. now owns 7,251 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $700,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Trust Investment Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.8% in the first quarter. Trust Investment Advisors now owns 13,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Certified Advisory Corp now owns 17,459 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,798,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the last quarter. 63.68% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 17th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $102.00 in a report on Friday, July 7th. StockNews.com cut Duke Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 2nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Duke Energy from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.92.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.3 %

DUK stock traded down $0.27 during trading on Friday, reaching $95.18. 9,702,852 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,985,734. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $91.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.33. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.76 and a 52-week high of $107.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.36 billion, a PE ratio of 53.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.43.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.98 by ($0.07). Duke Energy had a net margin of 5.06% and a return on equity of 8.05%. The firm had revenue of $6.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.16 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.14 EPS. Duke Energy’s revenue was down 1.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 18th will be paid a dividend of $1.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.31%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 229.05%.

Duke Energy Company 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; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, solar and wind sources, renewables, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity.