Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Buys 912 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,999 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 912 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,903,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 14,268.8% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,663,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $202,858,000 after buying an additional 1,651,608 shares during the period. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased 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 worth $222,520,000 after purchasing an additional 1,111,581 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% in 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 period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after purchasing an additional 625,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on DUK. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $127.00 price objective (up previously from $126.00) on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Monday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Duke Energy from $127.00 to $138.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $126.00 to $125.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $125.81.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.1%

Duke Energy stock opened at $116.27 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $118.12 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $114.93. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market cap of $90.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.37. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $99.21 and a twelve month high of $125.27.

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

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.32%.

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.