First National Trust Co Decreases Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

First National Trust Co decreased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 590 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,000 after buying an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 25,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,545,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 31.2% during the fourth quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after purchasing an additional 309 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $0.95 on Friday, hitting $100.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,338,461 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,636,808. The company has a market capitalization of $77.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $95.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $100.56.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DUK. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

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.