Uncommon Cents Investing LLC Invests $267,000 in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Uncommon Cents Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $267,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 100,433.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $808,123,000 after buying an additional 7,838,811 shares during the period. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 8,722.3% in the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,127,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,784,000 after buying an additional 1,115,053 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.5% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,031,772,000 after buying an additional 1,037,012 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.6% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after buying an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 2,064.4% in the first quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 860,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,005,000 after buying an additional 820,667 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on DUK shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America downgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK traded up $0.59 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $96.68. The company had a trading volume of 2,637,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,148,273. The stock has a market cap of $74.58 billion, a PE ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $94.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.90. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $1.025 dividend. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.49%.

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.