Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. Acquires Shares of 2,269 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Barlow Wealth Partners Inc. bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 28.6% in the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 25,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the period. Wagner Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,691,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 31.2% in the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. Bank of America increased their price target on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

DUK stock traded up $1.84 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $102.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,801,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,018,786. The company has a market cap of $78.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $83.06 and a 12 month high of $102.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $95.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.37.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.