Allworth Financial LP Purchases 73,066 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Allworth Financial LP lifted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 368.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 92,881 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 73,066 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $10,107,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $201,832,000 after buying an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $0.89 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $111.78. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,860,545 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,340,063. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $112.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.50.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio is 73.20%.

Duke Energy 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.