20,761 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Bought by Marshall Investment Management LLC

Marshall Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 20,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,394,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. Scotiabank upped their target price on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.62.

Duke Energy Stock Up 2.1 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $115.58 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.28 billion, a PE ratio of 20.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.50. 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 $110.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. Equities analysts expect 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, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.62%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.20%.

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.