Essential Planning LLC. Buys New Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Essential Planning LLC. bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 15,850 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,808,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in 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 acquiring an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,529,000 after acquiring an additional 135,665 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,368,000 after acquiring an additional 561,784 shares in the last quarter. 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. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at about $2,537,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on 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, BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.93.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $116.69 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $92.75 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $112.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $113.36. The company has a market cap of $90.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48.

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, beating 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 predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

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 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 dividend yield of 3.58%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 73.20%.

Duke Energy 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.