Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Acquires 1,480 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 31,087 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,480 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,349,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Down 1.2 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $111.80 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $110.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $112.57. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Duke Energy Company 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.