Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Buys 3,305 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 33.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 3,305 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,415,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 240,136 shares in the last quarter. One Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $426,000. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 17.7% in the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 8,287 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $831,000 after buying an additional 1,247 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the second quarter worth $2,147,000. Finally, Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 8.1% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,958,000 after acquiring an additional 2,223 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DUK. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and raised 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 given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK traded up $2.60 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $109.05. The company had a trading volume of 2,899,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,065,203. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $110.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.83. 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 firm has a market cap of $84.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last issued 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). The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. Duke Energy's quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. 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 3.83%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.