Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Bought by Verity Asset Management Inc.

Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,428 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 617 shares during the quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,016,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 52,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,613,000 after buying an additional 2,705 shares in the last quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 83,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,008,000 after acquiring an additional 16,356 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,032,000. Fifth Third Bancorp raised its stake in Duke Energy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 296,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,941,000 after purchasing an additional 9,070 shares during the period. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at $1,566,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on DUK. Scotiabank upped their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $113.21 on Tuesday. The company 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 0.50. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.57. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

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.