Public Sector Pension Investment Board Raises Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 3.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 134,802 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,900 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $15,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,520,000 after acquiring an additional 9,334 shares during the last quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.9% in the 1st quarter. Hancock Whitney Corp now owns 4,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at about $61,000. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 71,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,952,000 after acquiring an additional 2,196 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 187.8% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 456,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,179,000 after acquiring an additional 298,117 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $117.42 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $115.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $110.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $90.70 billion, a PE ratio of 21.58, a P/E/G ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. 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.