Peddock Capital Advisors LLC Has $222,000 Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Peddock Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 9.3% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 175 shares during the period. Peddock Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Westover Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $200,000. Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 247 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy in the second quarter valued at about $580,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,672,000 after acquiring an additional 40,243 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Williams Financial LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $593,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the subject of several 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 lifted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DUK traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $106.29. 2,387,591 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,009,373. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25. The firm has a market cap of $82.11 billion, a PE ratio of 19.54, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $111.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $111.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. 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.