Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC Buys 842 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 842 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,279,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4,163.9% in the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 882,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,352,000 after buying an additional 861,854 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Duke Energy by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,141,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,081,125,000 after purchasing an additional 509,039 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $41,874,000. Finally, Morningstar Investment Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 96.1% during the fourth quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC now owns 789,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $76,529,000 after buying an additional 387,038 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $113.64, for a total transaction of $61,365.60. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,884 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,259,617.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. Barclays lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $114.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $117.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $110.15.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE DUK traded down $0.36 on Thursday, hitting $113.10. The stock had a trading volume of 1,064,116 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,948,858. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $105.24 and a 200-day moving average of $99.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a current ratio of 0.78. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $116.67. The company has a market capitalization of $87.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.91 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 9.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 16th. This is a positive change from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 105.03%.

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.