Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Sold by Oak Harvest Investment Services

Oak Harvest Investment Services lessened its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 47.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 60,346 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 53,989 shares during the quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services’ holdings in Duke Energy were worth $6,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake 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 grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third 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. Swiss National Bank raised its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in 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 valued at $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $112.28 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $110.14 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.45. 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 capitalization of $86.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.94 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DUK. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank boosted 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Company 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.