Apella Capital LLC Has $318,000 Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Apella Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 834 shares during the quarter. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $318,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,031,000 after acquiring an additional 968,723 shares in the last quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 7,502 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,614,000 after purchasing an additional 1,929 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 49,515 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,805,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 180,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,415,000 after acquiring an additional 12,594 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total transaction of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $409.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Lynn J. Good sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $103.30, for a total transaction of $1,549,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 437,464 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $45,190,031.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $409.24. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 26,695 shares of company stock valued at $2,750,815. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of DUK traded up $0.59 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $113.51. The stock had a trading volume of 4,771,890 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,961,591. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $83.06 and a 12 month high of $116.67. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $103.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The company has a market capitalization of $87.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.16. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.25% and a net margin of 10.78%. The business had revenue of $7.17 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.84 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.91 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 9.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. This is a boost from Duke Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.03. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 105.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $112.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, July 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $106.75.

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.