Quest Partners LLC Purchases Shares of 14,549 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,549 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,678,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 215.2% during the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 20,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,952,000 after buying an additional 13,783 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 65.0% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $617,000 after purchasing an additional 2,514 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 5.8% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,927 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. Natixis acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,653,000. Finally, MQS Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $353,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $113.57 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $115.33 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $109.43. The stock has a market cap of $87.73 billion, a PE ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.27 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.