Albion Financial Group UT Acquires 1,323 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Albion Financial Group UT boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 18.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,369 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,323 shares during the quarter. Albion Financial Group UT’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $902,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the fourth 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. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DUK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

DUK stock opened at $110.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.54 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.38 and its 200-day moving average is $112.19. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.