Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Purchased by Grove Bank & Trust

Grove Bank & Trust grew its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $625,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $109.34 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $84.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $110.47 and a 200-day moving average of $111.97.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on DUK shares. Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

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.