Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 13,013 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 62.4% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 33,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 13,013 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,650,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DUK. CX Institutional raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 10.8% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9.3% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 304,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,101,000 after acquiring an additional 25,937 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.1% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 31,920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,680,000 after acquiring an additional 646 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 158.9% in the third quarter. Marshall Financial Group LLC now owns 8,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $978,000 after acquiring an additional 5,206 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.5% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 98,182 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on DUK. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven 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 target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Down 2.0 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $111.69 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.94. The stock has a market cap of $86.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.84%.

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.