Associated Banc Corp Trims Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Associated Banc Corp reduced its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 14.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 808 shares during the quarter. Associated Banc Corp’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $562,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after acquiring an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Duke Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after purchasing an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Duke Energy by 15.2% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,101,000 after purchasing an additional 240,136 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $115.00 on Tuesday. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The company has a market capitalization of $88.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.14, a PEG ratio of 3.02 and a beta of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $115.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $109.88. 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 (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

DUK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. KeyCorp downgraded Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered 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 research report on Friday. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.69.

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.