Concord Wealth Partners Grows Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Concord Wealth Partners increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 6,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 596 shares during the period. Concord Wealth Partners’ holdings in Duke Energy were worth $676,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter worth about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after buying an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position 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 purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares in 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 recently weighed in on DUK shares. 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. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $112.14 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.49. The stock has a market cap of $86.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. 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 issued 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 return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current 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 issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.