Dover Advisors LLC Lowers Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Dover Advisors LLC decreased its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 334 shares during the quarter. Dover Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $521,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marco Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Marco Investment Management LLC now owns 52,732 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,117,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 20.0% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 13,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,347,000 after purchasing an additional 2,311 shares during the period. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. HHM Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $255,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 65.9% in the fourth quarter. Little House Capital LLC now owns 15,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,513,000 after purchasing an additional 6,194 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $261,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.62.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.3 %

Duke Energy stock traded down $1.32 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.71. The company had a trading volume of 1,994,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,375,920. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $100.13. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $93.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.