Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC cut its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 357 shares during the period. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,846,000 after buying an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position 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 worth $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after buying an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on DUK. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Trading Down 2.1 %

NYSE DUK opened at $113.89 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $90.09 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The company has a 50-day moving average of $109.86 and a 200-day moving average of $112.93. 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 company has a market cap of $87.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors 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 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.