111 Capital Acquires Shares of 4,561 Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

111 Capital acquired a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,561 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $491,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter valued at $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 116.5% during the 4th quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $222,520,000 after buying an additional 1,111,581 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Duke Energy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,852,731,000 after purchasing an additional 779,054 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $521,322,000 after buying an additional 625,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 40.6% in the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 2,027,600 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $218,454,000 after acquiring an additional 585,600 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 5th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $126.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $125.81.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK traded down $0.91 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $116.81. 1,550,136 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,453,632. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.39. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $99.21 and a one year high of $125.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The company's 50 day moving average is $118.76 and its 200 day moving average is $114.82.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.17. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. The firm had revenue of $8.25 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. Duke Energy's dividend payout ratio is currently 69.32%.

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.