Wright Investors Service Inc. Has $2.30 Million Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Wright Investors Service Inc. reduced its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 14.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 23,718 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,067 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,302,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Duke Energy by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its position in Duke Energy by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,468,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $923,907,000 after purchasing an additional 492,011 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,635,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $864,652,000 after acquiring an additional 257,665 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,918,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $698,923,000 after acquiring an additional 144,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 100,433.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $808,123,000 after acquiring an additional 7,838,811 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock traded up $0.05 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $94.55. The stock had a trading volume of 321,014 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,971,372. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $100.39. The firm has a market cap of $72.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Duke Energy’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DUK. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. KeyCorp increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.17.

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.