Corundum Group Inc. Acquires New Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Corundum Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 14,531 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,566,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted 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 buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,537,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in Duke Energy by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $109.34 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $110.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.82%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank lifted 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on 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 upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.