Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 33.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,305 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Duke Energy by 15.2% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,101,000 after purchasing an additional 240,136 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth $426,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its position in Duke Energy by 17.7% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $831,000 after acquiring an additional 1,247 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at $2,147,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 8.1% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on DUK shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. 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 given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE DUK opened at $106.39 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $82.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.73 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.87. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 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 business had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business 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 $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.