Norway Savings Bank Reduces Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Norway Savings Bank lessened its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. 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 SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after buying an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Northwest Bancshares Inc. now owns 5,925 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $610,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. Kovack Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 1.4% during the 1st 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 period. Trust Investment Advisors raised its stake in Duke Energy by 0.8% during the 1st 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 period. Finally, Certified Advisory Corp raised its stake in Duke Energy by 0.6% during the 4th 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.68% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock traded down $0.27 on Friday, reaching $95.18. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,702,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,985,734. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $91.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.33. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.76 and a 1 year high of $107.59. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42. The company has a market capitalization of $73.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 53.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.43.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 8th. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.98 by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $6.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.16 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.05% and a net margin of 5.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.14 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.31%. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.01. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 229.05%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, August 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of Duke Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, September 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Wednesday, June 7th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $99.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $95.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.92.

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