Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 155.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.24% of Duke Energy worth $201,832,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its position in 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 worth $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in 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 during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 813,744 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company's stock.
DUK has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $122.23.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Duke Energy
DUK opened at $106.77 on Wednesday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $110.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.87. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $90.09 and a 12 month high of $121.25.
Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last posted 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). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.
The firm 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 $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.
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.
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