MKT Advisors LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

MKT Advisors LLC cut its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,295 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 197 shares during the period. MKT Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after buying 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% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

DUK stock opened at $109.86 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.26 and a 200-day moving average of $112.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The business had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

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.