Fifth Third Bancorp Purchases 9,070 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 3.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 296,463 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,070 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $31,941,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DUK. apricus wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. apricus wealth LLC now owns 20,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,159,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 14,260 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,536,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. Nepsis Inc. grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 246.9% during the fourth quarter. Nepsis Inc. now owns 55,947 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,028,000 after purchasing an additional 39,818 shares during the last quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors now owns 4,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $463,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Finally, Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 14.6% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 197,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $21,268,000 after buying an additional 25,101 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised 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 research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Six equities 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 company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK traded up $0.52 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $109.86. The stock had a trading volume of 2,695,293 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,562,448. 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 $84.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company's fifty day moving average is $110.26 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.94 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given 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 3.80%. Duke Energy's payout ratio is 76.84%.

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.