Searle & CO. Has $314,000 Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Searle & CO. raised its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 160 shares during the quarter. Searle & CO.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 2.2% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 543,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,993,000 after purchasing an additional 11,581 shares during the last quarter. Toews Corp ADV acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $750,000. Accurate Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $445,000 after buying an additional 368 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11.4% during the third quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 309,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,274,000 after buying an additional 31,642 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 93,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,228,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. KeyCorp increased their price target on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK traded up $1.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $99.78. 4,788,321 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,990,113. The company’s 50-day moving average is $95.10 and its 200 day moving average is $93.94. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.56. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $76.98 billion, a PE ratio of 28.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46.

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