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

Douglas Lane & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 314 shares during the period. Douglas Lane & Associates LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $404,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PBMares Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. PBMares Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 1,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $224,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 6,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $760,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the last quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 3.5% in the third quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays upped their price target 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, Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE DUK opened at $108.30 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $111.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.62. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $83.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.91, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for 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 firm’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal 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.