AdvisorNet Financial Inc Has $640,000 Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 693 shares during the quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $640,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Duke Energy by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,101,000 after acquiring an additional 240,136 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $426,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 17.7% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. bought a new position in Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,147,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 8.1% in the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,223 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $106.39 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $110.73 and its 200-day moving average is $111.87. 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 Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $82.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.49.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) 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 net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.84%.

Duke Energy 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.