LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI Purchases 357 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,312 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 357 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Duke Energy by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 19,482 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,099,000 after acquiring an additional 477 shares during the period. CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 83,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,008,000 after purchasing an additional 16,356 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 7.6% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC now owns 26,333 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,837,000 after buying an additional 1,859 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 55.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 4,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $498,000 after buying an additional 1,651 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Duke Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 16,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,756,000 after acquiring an additional 128 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Down 2.1 %

Duke Energy stock traded down $2.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $105.92. 1,153,561 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,797,686. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities 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, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

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.