Advisor Resource Council Purchases Shares of 2,906 Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)

Advisor Resource Council purchased a new stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 2,906 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $354,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in 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 valued at $202,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,608 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 116.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $222,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,581 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,852,731,000 after buying an additional 779,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $521,322,000 after buying an additional 625,008 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued a "market perform" rating for the company. Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $127.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $125.75.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK traded up $0.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $117.28. The company had a trading volume of 654,046 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,448,509. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $117.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. Duke Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $99.21 and a twelve month high of $125.27.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.32%.

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.