ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. Sells 325 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. reduced its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 325 shares during the period. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,382,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $154,000. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Bigelow Investment Advisors LLC now owns 6,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $637,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. HTLF Bank purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth about $265,000. Bender Robert & Associates bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $202,000. Finally, Xponance Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 5.8% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 98,671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,575,000 after purchasing an additional 5,447 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upgraded Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.17.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK traded up $2.31 on Friday, hitting $98.24. 4,212,878 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,299,082. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.79 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $100.39. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $94.20 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.32. 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 (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The business 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

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.