Capital Wealth Planning LLC Buys 1,111,581 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Capital Wealth Planning LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 116.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,111,581 shares during the period. Duke Energy makes up approximately 2.1% of Capital Wealth Planning LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 21st biggest position. Capital Wealth Planning LLC owned 0.27% of Duke Energy worth $222,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Brookfield Corp ON raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 112.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brookfield Corp ON now owns 1,002,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $115,624,000 after buying an additional 531,073 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after buying an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.62.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $117.50 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $90.09 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $111.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $113.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a market cap of $90.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.20%.

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.