Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Purchased by Trust Point Inc.

Trust Point Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 105 shares during the quarter. Trust Point Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $778,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 157,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,130,000 after purchasing an additional 10,177 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 35.9% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 9,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,137,000 after buying an additional 2,605 shares during the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $822,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $217,000. Finally, Callan Family Office LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. 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 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 has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $112.46 on Wednesday. The business 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 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.84%.

Duke Energy 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.