Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec Sells 60,400 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec cut its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 2,363,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 60,400 shares during the quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec owned about 0.31% of Duke Energy worth $272,494,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 9.4% in the first quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 108,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,520,000 after buying an additional 9,334 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $61,000. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 15.4% during the 1st quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 207,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,916,000 after acquiring an additional 27,693 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 64.4% in the first quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $804,000 after purchasing an additional 3,206 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 122.0% in the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 7,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $727,000 after purchasing an additional 3,985 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $135.00 price target on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $117.12 on Friday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $115.18 and a 200-day moving average of $110.18. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.53, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted 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 company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.57%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.