Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Decreases Stock Position in Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 12.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 327 shares during the quarter. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $274,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. GQG Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 17,880.0% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,249,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,250,133,000 after buying an additional 10,192,503 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $702,351,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 88.1% during the 1st quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,861,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $592,934,000 after buying an additional 2,276,948 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,562,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,094,327,000 after buying an additional 1,676,061 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,858,000 after buying an additional 1,651,608 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Thomas Preston Jr. Gillespie sold 6,700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, August 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.26, for a total value of $832,542.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 46,422 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,768,397.72. This represents a 12.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total value of $248,760.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 19,608 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,438,843.04. This represents a 9.26% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DUK shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price objective (up from $124.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set a “market perform” rating on the stock. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $130.62.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of DUK stock opened at $123.01 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $121.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.40. Duke Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $105.20 and a fifty-two week high of $127.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $95.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.42, a current ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.25 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.29 by ($0.04). Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The company had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.18 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

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

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.