Hanson & Doremus Investment Management Sells 1,136 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Hanson & Doremus Investment Management trimmed its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 14,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,136 shares during the quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Invesco LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Invesco LLC now owns 4,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $492,000 after purchasing an additional 169 shares during the last quarter. Field & Main Bank raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 8,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $963,000 after buying an additional 1,215 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Strategic Blueprint LLC now owns 20,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,234,000 after buying an additional 632 shares during the last quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 8,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $967,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Duke Energy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $455,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK opened at $110.67 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $110.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $112.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $90.09 and a 52-week high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.49 billion, a PE ratio of 20.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders 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 3.78%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.84%.

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.