MAI Capital Management Sells 6,415 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

MAI Capital Management lessened its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 21.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 23,980 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 6,415 shares during the quarter. MAI Capital Management's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 65.0% in the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,379 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $617,000 after buying an additional 2,514 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 5.8% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 6,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $670,000 after purchasing an additional 377 shares in the last quarter. MQS Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter valued at about $353,000. Vident Advisory LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.5% during the first quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 35,883 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,471,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an "overweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target 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. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK traded up $0.16 on Wednesday, hitting $113.74. The company had a trading volume of 2,290,158 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,074,339. The company's fifty day moving average price is $115.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $109.53. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $88.73 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The stock has a market cap of $87.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.84%.

Duke Energy Company 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.