Jacobi Capital Management LLC Sells 295 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Jacobi Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 295 shares during the quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,463,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of DUK. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake 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 valued at $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Brookfield Corp ON grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 531,073 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 442,302 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on DUK. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $117.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.03 and its 200 day simple moving average is $113.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $90.09 and a 52-week high of $121.25.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.56%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.