Burney Co. Sells 195 Shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)

Burney Co. reduced its stake in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 5.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 195 shares during the quarter. Burney Co.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $389,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,858,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,608 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $163,819,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $521,322,000 after purchasing an additional 625,008 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 40.6% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,027,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $218,454,000 after purchasing an additional 585,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 143.3% in the fourth quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 888,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,706,000 after purchasing an additional 523,251 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on DUK. Citigroup raised their target price on Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $122.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, July 1st. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $127.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $127.25.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock opened at $119.98 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $116.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $116.46. Duke Energy Corporation has a 52-week low of $105.20 and a 52-week high of $125.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.17. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.40% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The firm had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.44 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a $1.065 dividend. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 70.65%.

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.