Oakworth Capital Inc. Sells 724 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Oakworth Capital Inc. lessened its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 8.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 724 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $807,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CKW Financial Group purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter worth about $29,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.17.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $1.60 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $94.47. 1,013,197 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,996,932. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.21. The stock has a market capitalization of $72.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.16, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $100.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.11 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

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.