Private Wealth Management Group LLC Has $45,000 Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Private Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 55.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $45,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the 3rd 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 position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of 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 upped their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $113.88 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $109.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.65. The stock has a market cap of $87.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.93, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 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.