Quotient Wealth Partners LLC Has $334,000 Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 266 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $334,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in 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 worth $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased 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 valued at $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 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. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.08.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $115.01 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $109.73 and its 200-day moving average is $112.76. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a PE ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio 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.