Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Ieq Capital LLC

Ieq Capital LLC lessened its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 36.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 19,618 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,620,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $115.58 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $89.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, 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 current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $110.10 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.01.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. On average, 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 announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.