2,080 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Purchased by Mezzasalma Advisors LLC

Mezzasalma Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 2,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $240,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares during the last quarter. BROOKFIELD Corp ON purchased a new stake in Duke Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,278,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Duke Energy by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,111,521,000 after purchasing an additional 352,320 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings 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 valued at $6,835,047,000 after acquiring an additional 324,289 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DUK. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. KeyCorp boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $121.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The stock was sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $120.05 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $92.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 30.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $85.79 and a 12 month high of $120.09. The company has a 50 day moving average of $114.67 and a 200 day moving average of $106.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released 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. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 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.