Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Bought by ST Germain D J Co. Inc.

ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 55.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 4,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,651 shares during the quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $498,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after acquiring an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the third 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. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,537,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Down 2.1 %

DUK stock opened at $105.93 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a market cap of $81.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $111.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $111.62.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.95%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, 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.