Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. Buys Shares of 3,681 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Lloyd Advisory Services LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $369,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% during the 1st 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 during the period. 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. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 8,113,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $787,328,000 after acquiring an additional 42,782 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.7% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,351,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $228,193,000 after acquiring an additional 84,227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 1,973,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $190,845,000 after acquiring an additional 31,309 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Scotiabank boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $113.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $116.64 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $118.11. The company has a market cap of $90.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.31, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $109.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $102.10.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. The company had revenue of $7.17 billion for 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%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.91 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders 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. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 105.03%.

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.