3,064 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Bought by Cvfg LLC

Cvfg LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,064 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $330,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter worth $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped their price objective 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. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK opened at $109.05 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $110.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.83. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $90.09 and a 52-week high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.24 billion, a PE ratio of 20.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $8.16 billion during 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 for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

About Duke Energy

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.