Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Stock Holdings Increased by Atlas Brown Inc.

Atlas Brown Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 4.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,759 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 465 shares during the quarter. Atlas Brown Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,159,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the second quarter worth $2,586,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 3.6% in the second quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 1,625,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $162,973,000 after acquiring an additional 56,629 shares during the last quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at approximately $377,000. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 34,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,477,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 797.0% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. now owns 129,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,983,000 after purchasing an additional 115,088 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK traded down $2.37 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $105.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,993,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,904,877. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $81.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $111.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $111.59. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 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.