Trueblood Wealth Management LLC Takes $428,000 Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Trueblood Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $428,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after acquiring an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. First Manhattan Co. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. First Manhattan Co. now owns 11,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 107 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 0.6% during the first quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 19,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,872,000 after buying an additional 112 shares in the last quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,033,000 after buying an additional 113 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chemung Canal Trust Co. increased its stake in Duke Energy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 14,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,405,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Duke Energy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 29th. Bank of America cut Duke Energy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $105.00 to $96.00 in a research note on Monday, February 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK traded up $0.62 on Thursday, hitting $96.71. 2,439,643 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,147,220. The firm has a market cap of $74.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.98 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $94.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.90. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.39.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. Duke Energy’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 18th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were paid a dividend of $1.025 per share. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 115.49%.

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.