James J. Burns & Company LLC Purchases New Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

James J. Burns & Company LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $219,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 6,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $728,000 after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 62,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,752,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares in the last quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. OLD National Bancorp IN now owns 10,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,147,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $524,000. Finally, Mediolanum International Funds Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $738,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.9%

DUK opened at $117.61 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.60, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.77. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $99.21 and a one year high of $125.27.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.17. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. The business had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.44 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.55%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.81.

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.