Van ECK Associates Corp Decreases Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Van ECK Associates Corp decreased its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 188,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,856 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $18,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 13.9% during the fourth quarter. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $274,000 after buying an additional 344 shares in the last quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,023 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,000 after purchasing an additional 894 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 25,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,545,000 after buying an additional 1,122 shares during the last quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 3.4% during the fourth quarter. Wagner Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,691,000 after buying an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 31.2% during the 4th quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 1,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,000 after buying an additional 309 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK stock opened at $99.78 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.98. 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 has a market capitalization of $76.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $100.56.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on DUK shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.62.

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.