Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Decreases Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System lessened its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 43,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $5,016,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Duke Energy by 65.7% during 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 period. Wulff Hansen & CO. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares during the period. BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth about $36,278,000. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Duke Energy by 3.2% during 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 acquiring an additional 352,320 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $117.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $86.61 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $115.61 and a 200 day moving average price of $107.54.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on DUK. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.85.

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.