Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Holdings Trimmed by Grimes & Company Inc.

Grimes & Company Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 163 shares during the period. Grimes & Company Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 52,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705 shares in the last quarter. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,888,000. CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 24.3% during the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 83,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,008,000 after acquiring an additional 16,356 shares in the last quarter. Pines Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $1,032,000. Finally, Corundum Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $1,566,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.5 %

Duke Energy stock opened at $109.86 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $110.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.21. The firm has a market cap of $84.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

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.