USA Financial Formulas Purchases Shares of 7,460 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

USA Financial Formulas bought a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $804,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Legacy Investment Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $29,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Reston Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Capital Advisors LLC now owns 334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 82.7% in the third quarter. Carolina Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $106.39 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $82.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $111.87. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted 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). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

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.