17,455 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Acquired by Virtu Financial LLC

Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 17,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,012,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $166,263,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted 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 acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE DUK opened at $109.16 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.07, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.47. The business’s fifty day moving average is $114.62 and its 200-day moving average is $110.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

Duke Energy Company 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.