D.A. Davidson & CO. Grows Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 218,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,550 shares during the quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $25,201,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in 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 last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the period. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after purchasing an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in Duke Energy by 187.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 456,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,179,000 after purchasing an additional 298,117 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock opened at $115.00 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.08 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.88. The firm has a market cap of $88.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

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.