Truist Financial Corp Cuts Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 8.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 889,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 83,366 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $86,332,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 49.1% in the third quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded down $1.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $97.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,994,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,375,920. The firm has a market cap of $75.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $83.06 and a 12 month high of $100.13. The business’s 50-day moving average is $94.84 and its 200 day moving average is $93.74. 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 (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 earnings per share 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.