Altrius Capital Management Inc Takes $208,000 Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Altrius Capital Management Inc bought a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,138 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $208,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intrust Bank NA boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 12.9% during the 4th quarter. Intrust Bank NA now owns 9,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,000 after acquiring an additional 1,125 shares in the last quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Greatmark Investment Partners Inc. now owns 4,599 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $446,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Red Wave Investments LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 6.9% during the 4th quarter. Red Wave Investments LLC now owns 2,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Blue Chip Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $106,000. Finally, Marco Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 52,732 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,117,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on DUK. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.62.

Duke Energy Price Performance

NYSE DUK traded up $1.02 on Monday, reaching $98.73. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,043,502 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,365. The firm has a market cap of $76.17 billion, a PE ratio of 27.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.80. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.13. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

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.