Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Purchases 112 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 112 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $278,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.6% during the 4th 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. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Stratos Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,737 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $941,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 37.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 68,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,461,000 after acquiring an additional 18,604 shares during the period. Financial Advocates Investment Management boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 28.9% in the 4th quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 8,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,917 shares during the period. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp bought a new position in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $261,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on DUK. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their target price on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.81.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.4%

Shares of DUK opened at $115.22 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $118.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $99.21 and a 1 year high of $125.27.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.32%.

Duke Energy Company 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.