Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Purchases 825 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 33,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 825 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,468,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $923,907,000 after acquiring an additional 492,011 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in 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 period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,672,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,321,000 after acquiring an additional 124,114 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after acquiring an additional 715,069 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy 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 transaction of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of DUK opened at $97.71 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $75.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $94.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.74. 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 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.13.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on DUK. Mizuho boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp upped their target price on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

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.