Covington Investment Advisors Inc. Raises Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Covington Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 286 shares during the period. Covington Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $5,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after buying an additional 40,243 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its position 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 worth $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 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 acquiring an additional 240,136 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on DUK. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

DUK stock opened at $115.00 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $88.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $90.09 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $115.08 and its 200-day simple moving average is $109.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio 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.