Novare Capital Management LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 60,847 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 2,804 shares during the quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $6,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DUK. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 541.8% during the 2nd quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 7,566,436 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $811,198,000 after buying an additional 6,387,550 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Duke Energy by 3.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,338,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,753,552,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623,646 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy by 2.1% in the third quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 54,910,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,107,783,000 after purchasing an additional 1,109,394 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Duke Energy by 1.5% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 70,549,902 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,562,551,000 after purchasing an additional 1,035,303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Neuberger Berman Group LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 41.9% in the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 2,875,520 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $267,696,000 after purchasing an additional 849,278 shares during the last quarter. 63.22% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on DUK. Royal Bank of Canada dropped their target price on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $112.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 16th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, March 16th. They issued a "hold" rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Duke Energy from $111.00 to $103.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 10th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Duke Energy from $105.00 to $99.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Duke Energy from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, December 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $106.09.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Louis E. Renjel sold 1,900 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.90, for a total transaction of $189,810.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 9,967 shares in the company, valued at $995,703.30. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company's stock.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE:DUK traded down $0.63 on Wednesday, hitting $94.14. The stock had a trading volume of 401,840 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,968,752. The business's fifty day moving average is $98.89 and its 200 day moving average is $98.73. The company has a market cap of $72.50 billion, a PE ratio of 28.55, a P/E/G ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.51, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.76 and a 52 week high of $116.33.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $1.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.06 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.45% and a net margin of 9.11%. The company had revenue of $7.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.27 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 17th were issued a $1.005 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 16th. This represents a $4.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio is presently 121.08%.

Duke Energy Profile

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Duke Energy Corp. engages in the distribution of natural gas and energy related services. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities & Infrastructure and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment conducts operations in regulated electric utilities in the Carolinas, Florida and the Midwest.

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