White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 100.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the quarter. White Knight Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $399,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,852,731,000 after acquiring an additional 779,054 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 18,097,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,949,857,000 after purchasing an additional 124,863 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,873,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,930,833,000 after purchasing an additional 385,612 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,529,000 after buying an additional 135,665 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 8,503,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $916,168,000 after buying an additional 357,967 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on DUK. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.00.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $117.27 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $99.21 and a one year high of $125.27. The company has a market capitalization of $91.15 billion, a PE ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.56%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 69.32%.

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.