Chicago Capital LLC Grows Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Chicago Capital LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 100 shares during the quarter. Chicago Capital LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,106,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during 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 acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in 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 worth $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DUK. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE DUK opened at $113.21 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.81, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a fifty day moving average of $110.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.57.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s 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.