Blair William & Co. IL Lowers Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Blair William & Co. IL lowered its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 173 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $10,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,964,000. NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 46,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,030,000 after buying an additional 11,200 shares during the period. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co bought a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,592,000. WINTON GROUP Ltd boosted its position in Duke Energy by 61.5% during the 4th quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd now owns 4,311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $464,000 after acquiring an additional 1,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 8.3% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 1,229,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $132,497,000 after acquiring an additional 94,489 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.87.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $119.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $92.75 and a fifty-two week high of $121.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. Equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.