Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Beacon Financial Advisory LLC

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC lowered its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 167 shares during the period. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. 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 purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on DUK. 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $113.88 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The firm has a market cap of $87.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $109.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.65.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.67%. 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.