Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. Acquires 392 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 392 shares during the quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $831,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $166,263,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $129,782,000 after acquiring an additional 1,117,526 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of Duke Energy stock opened at $110.85 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $90.09 and a 1 year high of $121.25. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $109.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $112.98. The stock has a market cap of $85.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 2.75 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. As a group, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company 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 $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.