Golden State Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 4,042 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 4,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $436,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PBMares Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 1.8% during the third quarter. PBMares Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $563,000 after acquiring an additional 86 shares during the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 1,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 6,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Baron Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 3.5% during the third quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.9% during the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $115.01 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $88.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

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