Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 32.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 111,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,462 shares during the quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $12,848,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 9.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,520,000 after purchasing an additional 9,334 shares during the period. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,888,000. PrairieView Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter valued at $501,000. Commerce Bank raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 269,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,041,000 after buying an additional 15,069 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 158.9% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 5,206 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.69.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $114.70 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.14 and a 200-day simple moving average of $109.80. The stock has a market cap of $88.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $89.92 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.84%.

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.