Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Purchased by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 18.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,908 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $112.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $86.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day moving average of $110.26 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.