Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Acquired by PDS Planning Inc

PDS Planning Inc lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the quarter. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $364,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mystic Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Mystic Asset Management Inc. now owns 12,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,318,000 after acquiring an additional 1,169 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 10.4% in the fourth quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 32,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,475,000 after buying an additional 3,042 shares during the period. Argent Advisors Inc. increased its position in Duke Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 17,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,869,000 after buying an additional 277 shares during the period. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Aspen Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 5,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $636,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the period. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. increased its position in Duke Energy by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 161,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,349,000 after buying an additional 594 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on DUK. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on 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. Guggenheim increased their target price on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.93.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.0 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $120.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.57. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $92.75 and a fifty-two week high of $121.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $93.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.