JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd Acquires 500 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd lifted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 24,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. JARISLOWSKY FRASER Ltd’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,681,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new position in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $163,819,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the last quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 116.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $222,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,581 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,852,731,000 after purchasing an additional 779,054 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi grew its stake in Duke Energy by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $269,368,000 after acquiring an additional 561,784 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE DUK opened at $120.31 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $119.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $114.57. The stock has a market cap of $93.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.39. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $99.21 and a 12-month high of $125.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.59 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.70 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.44 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.47%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on DUK shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $126.00.

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.