Douglas Lane & Associates LLC Grows Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the quarter. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $404,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at $103,000. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,586,000. Caprock Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 94.8% in the 2nd quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 8,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $844,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098 shares in the last quarter. First Foundation Advisors raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 62.7% during the second quarter. First Foundation Advisors now owns 1,884 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,000 after purchasing an additional 726 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.2% in the second quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 391,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,208,000 after acquiring an additional 4,770 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. 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 report on Tuesday, October 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.4 %

DUK opened at $108.30 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $111.28 and a 200-day moving average of $111.62. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $83.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

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.