BIP Wealth LLC Takes Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

BIP Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $332,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted 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 purchasing an additional 1,002,157 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley increased its stake 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 increased its stake 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. increased its stake 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 increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after buying an additional 715,069 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of 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 note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3 %

Duke Energy stock traded up $0.28 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $99.24. 1,174,285 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,977,887. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $94.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.63. The company has a market cap of $76.56 billion, a PE ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.13.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued 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 net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current fiscal 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.