Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. Invests $517,000 in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,562,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,094,327,000 after buying an additional 1,676,061 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 worth $1,250,133,000 after buying an additional 10,192,503 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,921,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,088,158,000 after buying an additional 418,014 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,656,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,055,087,000 after buying an additional 93,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 8,153,615 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $994,496,000 after buying an additional 152,542 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Duke Energy from $131.00 to $132.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Duke Energy from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set a “market perform” rating for the company. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 6th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $120.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $94.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.39. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $121.67 and its 200-day moving average is $119.24. Duke Energy Corporation has a one year low of $105.20 and a one year high of $127.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.66 and a quick ratio of 0.42.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.18 EPS. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.065 per share. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.27%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.