Brighton Jones LLC Increases Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 11.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Brighton Jones LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake 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 valued at $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Duke Energy by 155.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,138,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.5 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $109.86 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $110.26 and a 200 day moving average of $112.21.

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, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Barclays increased their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

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.