Stiles Financial Services Inc Grows Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Stiles Financial Services Inc lifted its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the period. Stiles Financial Services Inc’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,434,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 worth $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $115.01 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.76. 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 earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.