Park Avenue Securities LLC Buys 20,442 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Park Avenue Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 48.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 62,259 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 20,442 shares during the quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $6,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DUK. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Duke Energy by 15.2% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,816,758 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $182,101,000 after buying an additional 240,136 shares during the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at about $426,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 17.7% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,287 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $831,000 after purchasing an additional 1,247 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,147,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 8.1% during the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,958,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays upped 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. Finally, 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 research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $106.70. 117,096 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,787,142. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. The company has a market cap of $82.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $110.73 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $111.87.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.92%. 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.