Mill Capital Management LLC Reduces Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Mill Capital Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 100 shares during the quarter. Mill Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,804,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 116.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,520,000 after buying an additional 1,111,581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,852,731,000 after buying an additional 779,054 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DUK. Guggenheim raised their price target on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Scotiabank raised their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Seven 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 currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.87.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $119.01 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $92.75 and a twelve month high of $121.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market capitalization of $92.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.65.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.51%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.