2,727 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Acquired by RDA Financial Network

RDA Financial Network bought a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 2,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $333,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,858,000 after acquiring an additional 1,651,608 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter valued at about $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 116.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,581 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,852,731,000 after buying an additional 779,054 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after buying an additional 625,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:DUK opened at $115.22 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $99.21 and a 12 month high of $125.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $89.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.37. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.43 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.91.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.17. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. The company had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 69.32%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $126.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Citigroup raised their target price on Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Duke Energy from $127.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $125.81.

Duke Energy Company 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.