Successful Portfolios LLC Has $2.06 Million Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Successful Portfolios LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,988 shares during the quarter. Duke Energy accounts for about 1.5% of Successful Portfolios LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Successful Portfolios LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,055,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 100,433.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,123,000 after purchasing an additional 7,838,811 shares during the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 8,722.3% in the 2nd quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,127,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,053 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,031,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,012 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 2,064.4% during the 1st quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 860,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,005,000 after acquiring an additional 820,667 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on DUK shares. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 29th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Duke Energy Trading Up 2.6 %

DUK stock traded up $2.43 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $96.10. The company had a trading volume of 3,165,107 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,158,994. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.39. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.88. The stock has a market cap of $74.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 115.49%.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

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.