Little House Capital LLC Sells 1,453 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Little House Capital LLC trimmed its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,453 shares during the quarter. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Private Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Riverview Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the first quarter worth approximately $30,000. Finally, Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, May 20th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $102.33.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total transaction of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $409.24. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Duke Energy news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the transaction, the director now owns 4 shares in the company, valued at approximately $409.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,695 shares of company stock worth $2,750,815 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded down $0.81 on Monday, reaching $99.42. 1,124,004 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,936,668. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $104.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.32, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $101.37 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $97.44.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $7.67 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were given a dividend of $1.025 per share. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 103.02%.

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.