Headinvest LLC Raises Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Headinvest LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 478 shares during the quarter. Headinvest LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DUK. Yaupon Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at about $10,792,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,263,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,358,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,026,000. Finally, Brookfield Corp ON grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 112.6% in the third quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 1,002,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,624,000 after acquiring an additional 531,073 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. Barclays lifted 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. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.69.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $112.10 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $114.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $110.59. 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 $86.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.99 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

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.