Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Stock Holdings Trimmed by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. lessened its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,768,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 535,390 shares during the period. Duke Energy comprises about 1.4% of Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Federated Hermes Inc. owned approximately 0.75% of Duke Energy worth $559,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 100,433.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,123,000 after acquiring an additional 7,838,811 shares during the period. Imprint Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 8,722.3% in the 2nd quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,127,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,784,000 after buying an additional 1,115,053 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.5% in the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,031,772,000 after buying an additional 1,037,012 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,865,000 after buying an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,031,000 after buying an additional 968,723 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on DUK. KeyCorp upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America increased their price target on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. 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. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.17.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $0.05 on Thursday, hitting $94.55. 358,801 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,971,729. The company has a market cap of $72.94 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

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.