IFG Advisory LLC Boosts Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

IFG Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 34,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,920 shares during the period. IFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,384,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 100,433.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,123,000 after purchasing an additional 7,838,811 shares during the period. Imprint Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 8,722.3% during the 2nd quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,127,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,053 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 11.5% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,031,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,012 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 2,064.4% during the 1st quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 860,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,005,000 after purchasing an additional 820,667 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on DUK. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.11% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

DUK traded up $1.69 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $95.36. 753,168 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,118,066. The firm has a market cap of $73.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.86. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Investors of record on Friday, February 16th were issued a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.49%.

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.