Princeton Capital Management LLC Acquires 335 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Princeton Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,598 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 335 shares during the quarter. Princeton Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $495,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,852,731,000 after acquiring an additional 779,054 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,529,000 after purchasing an additional 135,665 shares during the last quarter. Amundi raised its stake in Duke Energy by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,368,000 after buying an additional 561,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,537,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on DUK. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $123.87.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of DUK opened at $118.12 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $92.75 and a 12-month high of $121.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market capitalization of $91.78 billion, a PE ratio of 20.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50 day moving average is $114.39 and its 200 day moving average is $113.66.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. Research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.