Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Invests $204,000 in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 1,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $202,858,000 after purchasing an additional 1,651,608 shares during the last quarter. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 116.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,581 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,852,731,000 after acquiring an additional 779,054 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after acquiring an additional 625,008 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $116.27 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $118.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $114.93. The stock has a market cap of $90.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.37. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $99.21 and a one year high of $125.27.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.17. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. The firm had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 69.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $126.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 10th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.81.

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.