Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Stake Boosted by Parkside Financial Bank & Trust

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 23.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,865,000 after buying an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,468,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $923,907,000 after buying an additional 492,011 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,918,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $698,923,000 after buying an additional 144,612 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,672,930 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,321,000 after buying an additional 124,114 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after purchasing an additional 715,069 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Scotiabank cut their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Mizuho upped 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. Evercore ISI upgraded Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DUK remained flat at $98.12 during trading hours on Tuesday. 1,301,508 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,994,956. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.52.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

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.