525 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Bought by Ridgewood Investments LLC

Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $53,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,113,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $787,328,000 after buying an additional 42,782 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,351,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $228,193,000 after buying an additional 84,227 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on DUK. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp increased their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $113.92.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $0.29 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $112.99. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,021,935 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,948,288. The company has a market capitalization of $87.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $107.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $101.03. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $116.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.91 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 105.03%.

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.