Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Purchased by Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 37.5% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 796 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 233.1% in the third quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. now owns 17,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,523,000 after acquiring an additional 12,073 shares during the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 263.2% in the 3rd quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the last quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 20.5% in the 3rd quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 82,161 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,252,000 after buying an additional 13,991 shares during the period. Mutual Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.2% during the third quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 27,060 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,388,000 after purchasing an additional 577 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the third quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 338,885 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,910,000 after buying an additional 1,720 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,190,031.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Duke Energy news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $409.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 437,464 shares in the company, valued at $45,190,031.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 26,695 shares of company stock worth $2,750,815 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, May 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $102.33.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK traded down $0.37 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $100.22. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,898,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,951,670. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $101.37 and a 200 day simple moving average of $97.43. The stock has a market cap of $77.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $104.87.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The business had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.31 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.20 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 5.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.09%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 103.02%.

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.