Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Position Cut by Bfsg LLC

Bfsg LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 10,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 561 shares during the quarter. Bfsg LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Alaska Permanent Fund Corp now owns 61,748 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,992,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter worth about $307,000. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 23.4% in the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 5,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $518,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 27.2% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 224,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $21,817,000 after buying an additional 48,132 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Aspire Private Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Aspire Private Capital LLC now owns 25,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,448,000 after purchasing an additional 560 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK stock traded up $0.76 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $98.96. The company had a trading volume of 2,651,687 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,001,950. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $100.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.60.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

About Duke Energy

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.