Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Acquires 319 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 319 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $302,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after buying an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $2,537,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $109.34 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $84.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average of $110.55 and a 200-day moving average of $111.81.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.82%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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.