Stratos Investment Management LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Stratos Investment Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 14,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 776 shares during the period. Stratos Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in 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 purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in 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. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $112.46 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $90.09 and a 52-week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 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.