Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Acquired by Old Port Advisors

Old Port Advisors increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) by 46.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,906 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,804 shares during the period. Old Port Advisors’ holdings in Duke Energy were worth $917,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 541.8% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,566,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $811,198,000 after purchasing an additional 6,387,550 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,338,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,753,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623,646 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,910,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,107,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,394 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,549,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,562,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 41.9% during the 3rd quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,875,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $267,696,000 after purchasing an additional 849,278 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sell” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $107.00 to $110.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 10th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $105.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 22nd. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.64.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $96.39 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The stock has a market cap of $74.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $99.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.95. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.76 and a 1-year high of $116.33.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $7.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.27 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.11% and a return on equity of 8.45%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.63 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Investors of record on Friday, February 17th were given a dividend of $1.005 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 121.08%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Louis E. Renjel sold 1,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.90, for a total transaction of $189,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,967 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,703.30. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Duke Energy

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Duke Energy Corp. engages in the distribution of natural gas and energy related services. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities & Infrastructure and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment conducts operations in regulated electric utilities in the Carolinas, Florida and the Midwest.