KKM Financial LLC Purchases 1,399 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

KKM Financial LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,583 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,399 shares during the period. KKM Financial LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,489,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after buying an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in Duke Energy by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its position in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in Duke Energy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,278,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on DUK shares. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $114.70 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.69. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $89.92 and a 52-week high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

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.