Beacon Financial Advisory LLC Reduces Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Beacon Financial Advisory LLC decreased its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 167 shares during the quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Czech National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 6.9% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 157,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,130,000 after purchasing an additional 10,177 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 7,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $822,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the period. Everpar Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $217,000. Callan Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 5.2% during the third quarter. Callan Family Office LLC now owns 2,366 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,427,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DUK. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $113.88 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a market capitalization of $87.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $90.09 and a 52-week high of $121.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $112.65.

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 firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

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.