Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC Boosts Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 68.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 760 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $182,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DUK. Union Savings Bank lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 10.8% during the 4th quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 2,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $232,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 164.3% in the 4th quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,000 after buying an additional 322 shares during the last quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 118.5% in the 4th quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 55,021 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,339,000 after buying an additional 29,842 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 59.8% during the 4th quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,979 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,864 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Davis R M Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 23.4% during the 4th quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 6,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $614,000 after acquiring an additional 1,199 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on DUK. KeyCorp increased their target price on Duke Energy from $107.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.85.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock traded down $1.12 on Thursday, hitting $102.32. 799,809 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,995,362. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.54. The stock has a market cap of $78.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.45. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $104.60. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $98.08 and a 200-day moving average of $95.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.31 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 10.78% and a return on equity of 9.25%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.20 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.025 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 103.02%.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $409.24. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Duke Energy news, Director E Marie Mckee sold 1,695 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.31, for a total value of $173,415.45. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 4 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $409.24. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Julia S. Janson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $102.79, for a total transaction of $1,027,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 68,657 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,057,253.03. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 26,695 shares of company stock valued at $2,750,815. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.