Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC Purchases 1,579 Shares of Duke Energy Corporation $DUK

Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 65.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,579 shares during the period. Allegiance Financial Group Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $469,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. GQG Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 17,880.0% during the first quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 10,249,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,250,133,000 after acquiring an additional 10,192,503 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $702,351,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 88.1% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. now owns 4,861,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $592,934,000 after acquiring an additional 2,276,948 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 74,562,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,094,327,000 after acquiring an additional 1,676,061 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 359.1% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,132,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,145,000 after acquiring an additional 885,900 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, SVP Bonnie B. Titone sold 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.38, for a total transaction of $248,760.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 19,608 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,438,843.04. The trade was a 9.26% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Thomas Preston Jr. Gillespie sold 6,700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, August 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $124.26, for a total transaction of $832,542.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president owned 46,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,768,397.72. This trade represents a 12.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price target (up from $124.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $127.00 to $131.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $132.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Tuesday, July 1st. Finally, Scotiabank set a $137.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $133.08.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $125.30 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $97.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $122.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $119.73. Duke Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $105.20 and a twelve month high of $127.85. 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 the consensus estimate of $1.29 by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $7.51 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.07 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 15.51% and a return on equity of 9.85%. The business’s revenue was up 4.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.18 EPS. Duke Energy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 6.170-6.420 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.065 per share. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.05. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $4.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.27%.

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.