Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Decreases Holdings in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Key Points

• Beacon Financial Advisory LLC reduced its stake in Duke Energy Corporation by 80.2% during Q2, leaving them with 1,814 shares valued at approximately $214,000.
• Several large investors, including GQG Partners LLC and Nuveen LLC, have significantly increased their holdings in Duke Energy, with GQG Partners raising its stake by 17,880.0%.
• Duke Energy has announced a quarterly dividend increase to $1.065 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.4%.

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC trimmed its stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 80.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,814 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,354 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $214,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 17,880.0% in the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,249,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,250,133,000 after acquiring an additional 10,192,503 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy in the first quarter valued at $702,351,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy by 88.1% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,861,309 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $592,934,000 after purchasing an additional 2,276,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,562,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,094,327,000 after purchasing an additional 1,676,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 359.1% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,132,613 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $138,145,000 after purchasing an additional 885,900 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total transaction of $248,760.00. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 19,608 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,438,843.04. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Thomas Preston Jr. Gillespie sold 6,700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.26, for a total value of $832,542.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 46,422 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,768,397.72. This represents a 12.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 13th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $131.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Duke Energy from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating and cut their price target for the company from $141.00 to $134.00 in a research report on Friday, September 26th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $133.08.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.7%

NYSE:DUK opened at $124.38 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $96.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.44. Duke Energy Corporation has a 52 week low of $105.20 and a 52 week high of $127.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $122.71 and a 200 day moving average of $119.65.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.07 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 9.85%. Duke Energy's revenue was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.065 dividend. This is an increase from Duke Energy's previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $4.26 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.27%.

Duke Energy Company 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.

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