Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Townsend & Associates Inc

Townsend & Associates Inc lowered its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 40,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 282 shares during the quarter. Townsend & Associates Inc’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $4,433,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.62.

Duke Energy Trading Up 2.1 %

Shares of DUK opened at $115.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.01. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The stock has a market cap of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. Equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.20%.

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.