Louis E. Renjel Sells 540 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Stock

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares in the company, valued at $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK traded up $0.72 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $113.39. The company had a trading volume of 3,058,645 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,968,795. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $104.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $99.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $116.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $87.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.84 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 105.03%.

Institutional Trading of Duke Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Garner Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 5.0% during the 2nd quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp now owns 4,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $429,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 27.5% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 72,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,023,000 after buying an additional 15,719 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 155,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,566,000 after buying an additional 4,087 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 23,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,345,000 after buying an additional 1,275 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT raised its stake in Duke Energy by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 15,484 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,552,000 after acquiring an additional 424 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note 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 data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $108.69.

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.