Thomasville National Bank Has $24.02 Million Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Thomasville National Bank increased its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 222,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,484 shares during the quarter. Duke Energy makes up approximately 1.7% of Thomasville National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Thomasville National Bank’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $24,024,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its position in 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 buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after purchasing an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd 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. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on DUK. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of DUK stock traded down $0.63 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $105.24. 647,894 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,755,736. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.79. The stock has a market cap of $81.30 billion, a PE ratio of 19.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $90.09 and a 12 month high of $121.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

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.