AA Financial Advisors LLC Has $656,000 Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

AA Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 14.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,089 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 765 shares during the quarter. AA Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Wealth Investment Group LLC now owns 86,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,312,000 after buying an additional 4,980 shares during the period. Mediolanum International Funds Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $738,000. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $251,000. Finally, Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $524,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $112.28 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results 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). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

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.