BLB&B Advisors LLC Purchases 2,703 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

BLB&B Advisors LLC grew its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 23,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,703 shares during the quarter. BLB&B Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,581,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC increased its holdings 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. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter worth about $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after purchasing an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $115.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.78 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.67. 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 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 $88.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for 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%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

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.