Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Denali Advisors LLC

Denali Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 40.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,900 shares during the quarter. Denali Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $453,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted 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 worth $264,111,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,858,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $200,243,000 after purchasing an additional 48,447 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on DUK. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upped 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. 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, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.62.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.2 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $116.03 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $110.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.10. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued 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 3.60%. 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.