Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $368,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position 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 during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings 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 during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $36,278,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $112.17 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $86.65 billion, a PE ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $88.27 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.27. 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 released its 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 firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

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.