Hartford Funds Management Co LLC Sells 2,104 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Hartford Funds Management Co LLC lowered its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 11.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,104 shares during the quarter. Duke Energy comprises 0.2% of Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Hartford Funds Management Co LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after acquiring an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9,923.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $77,103,000 after acquiring an additional 761,590 shares during the period. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the first quarter worth $36,278,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 target price on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.69.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $114.70 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $88.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a PEG ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $89.92 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $115.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $109.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th will be given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.64%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 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.