BLB&B Advisors LLC Sells 1,019 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

BLB&B Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 4.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,019 shares during the period. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,450,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after purchasing an additional 761,590 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,278,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.2% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after buying an additional 352,320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,675,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,835,047,000 after buying an additional 324,289 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE DUK opened at $119.88 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $115.25 and a 200-day moving average price of $107.15. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $85.79 and a one year high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $92.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.12, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.91 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 105.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $2,259,617.76. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.