Planned Solutions Inc. Buys Shares of 1,340 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 1,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $130,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 13.9% in the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 28.6% during the third quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,000 after acquiring an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 25,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,545,000 after acquiring an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Adviser Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $304,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,918,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $698,923,000 after acquiring an additional 144,612 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.7 %

DUK stock traded up $1.56 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $95.23. The company had a trading volume of 856,051 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,119,470. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.39. The company has a market capitalization of $73.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.11 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.86.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The business had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Duke Energy’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a $1.025 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This represents a $4.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 115.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America lowered Duke Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $105.00 to $96.00 in a research report on Monday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $100.00.

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.