Cassia Capital Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)

Cassia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) by 5.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 514 shares during the quarter. Duke Energy accounts for about 0.8% of Cassia Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Cassia Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,226,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of DUK. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% in 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 during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter worth $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 116.5% in 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth 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. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after acquiring an additional 625,008 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on DUK. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Citigroup upped 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. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $127.00 price objective (up previously from $126.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Monday, June 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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, Barclays upped 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. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.75.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $115.42 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $89.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.50, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $117.95 and a 200-day moving average price of $114.91. Duke Energy Corporation has a twelve month low of $99.21 and a twelve month high of $125.27.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.70 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.88% and a net margin of 15.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Corporation will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.32%.

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.