KBC Group NV Purchases 4,131 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

KBC Group NV grew its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 62,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $6,752,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Apexium Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 5,343 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $576,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 24,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,856,000 after buying an additional 3,908 shares during the period. Drive Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at about $227,000. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 54.8% in the fourth quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 4,121 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after buying an additional 1,458 shares during the period. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 40,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,321,000 after acquiring an additional 304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.5 %

DUK stock opened at $112.28 on Friday. 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 fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.45. The company has a market cap of $86.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Company 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.