City Holding Co. Cuts Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

City Holding Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 16,284 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,578 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Ellsworth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $5,324,000. Grove Bank & Trust raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5.3% in the 4th quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 5,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $625,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Ballast Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Ballast Inc. now owns 15,839 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,706,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the period. Liberty One Investment Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 280,920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,266,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cadinha & Co. LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 28.7% in the fourth quarter. Cadinha & Co. LLC now owns 4,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 928 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock opened at $109.34 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $110.47 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $111.97. 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 stock has a market cap of $84.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DUK. Barclays lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six equities 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.23.

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.