GAMMA Investing LLC Grows Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 17.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 11,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,718 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,247,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in 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 buying an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40,243 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the third 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. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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 increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $107.78 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $111.95 and a 200 day moving average of $111.34. The company has a market cap of $83.26 billion, a PE ratio of 19.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. 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 (NYSE:DUK) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.88%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.