Louisiana State Employees Retirement System Lowers Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 43,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Louisiana State Employees Retirement System’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $5,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Duality Advisers LP boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 57.8% during the 1st quarter. Duality Advisers LP now owns 27,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,618,000 after acquiring an additional 9,917 shares in the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 63.8% during the 1st quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 44,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,324,000 after purchasing an additional 17,420 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9.4% during the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,520,000 after purchasing an additional 9,334 shares during the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,888,000. Finally, Chapin Davis Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.8% during the 1st quarter. Chapin Davis Inc. now owns 7,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $742,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.5 %

DUK stock opened at $117.21 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $90.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.59, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.53, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $107.54. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $86.61 and a 52 week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.29% and a return on equity of 9.71%. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.91 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total value of $61,365.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,259,617.76. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.