ProVise Management Group LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

ProVise Management Group LLC lessened its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 52,936 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,517 shares during the period. ProVise Management Group LLC's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $5,703,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in 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 valued at $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Duke Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $922,529,000 after acquiring an additional 135,665 shares during the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Duke Energy by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $269,368,000 after acquiring an additional 561,784 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 116.5% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,111,581 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on DUK shares. UBS Group increased their target price on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $123.87.

Duke Energy Stock Down 1.0 %

DUK traded down $1.15 on Friday, hitting $119.01. The company had a trading volume of 5,850,305 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,998,771. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $92.75 and a 52-week high of $121.47. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $114.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.51%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.