Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Raises Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund increased its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 27.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 224,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 48,132 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $21,817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 20.7% during the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,571 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $949,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares during the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 8.1% during the third quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 4,343 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $383,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 6,805 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $601,000 after acquiring an additional 483 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC lifted its position in Duke Energy by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. RFG Advisory LLC now owns 14,005 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,236,000 after purchasing an additional 2,298 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC grew its position in Duke Energy by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 24,759 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,185,000 after purchasing an additional 370 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on DUK shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $100.62.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock traded down $0.13 during trading on Monday, hitting $98.11. The company had a trading volume of 2,932,991 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,017,579. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $94.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.52. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.39. The company has a market cap of $75.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.

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