Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Cuts Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC lowered its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.4% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 110 shares during the period. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,198,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,858,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,608 shares in the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth about $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 116.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,581 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,852,731,000 after purchasing an additional 779,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after buying an additional 625,008 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Duke Energy from $127.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Barclays raised their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price target (up previously from $126.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $125.81.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $116.28 on Wednesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $99.21 and a 52-week high of $125.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.37. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $118.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.92.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $7.70 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.59%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.32%.

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.