Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 842,458 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 11.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 842,458 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.10% of Duke Energy worth $799,599,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth about $50,000. AJOVista LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $67,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $71,000. PFS Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 145.0% in the 4th quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after buying an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Operose Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 263.2% in the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 629 shares in the last quarter. 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 Duke Energy 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Evercore ISI raised 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 report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.62.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK traded up $1.84 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $102.26. 3,801,871 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,018,786. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $95.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.37. The company has a market cap of $78.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $102.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

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