Claro Advisors LLC Trims Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Claro Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 885 shares during the quarter. Claro Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,323,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $166,263,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $129,782,000 after buying an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock traded up $0.43 on Monday, hitting $106.30. 1,334,078 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,845,230. The firm has a market cap of $82.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $111.00 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.79. 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 data 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 net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 yield of 3.93%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio 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.