Heritage Trust Co Takes $266,000 Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Heritage Trust Co acquired a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new position in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $163,819,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after buying an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Capital Wealth Planning LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 116.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $222,520,000 after buying an additional 1,111,581 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,852,731,000 after acquiring an additional 779,054 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi raised its position in Duke Energy by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $269,368,000 after acquiring an additional 561,784 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their target price on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.87.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK stock opened at $118.81 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $92.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $116.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $113.90. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $92.75 and a 52 week high of $125.27.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. Research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.