Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Acquired by Apexium Financial LP

Apexium Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 4.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 5,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $576,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5.5% in the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 52,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,613,000 after purchasing an additional 2,705 shares in the last quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 24.3% in the fourth quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 83,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,008,000 after acquiring an additional 16,356 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $1,032,000. Corundum Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $1,566,000. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 59.2% in the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 23,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after purchasing an additional 8,699 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Stock Up 2.5 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $112.60 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $86.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. 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 $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.36.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.