MONECO Advisors LLC Purchases 22,177 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

MONECO Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK - Free Report) by 484.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 26,753 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,177 shares during the quarter. MONECO Advisors LLC's holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,596,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 9,164.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $95,031,000 after acquiring an additional 968,723 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 242.3% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $101,348,000 after acquiring an additional 739,112 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $635,952,000 after acquiring an additional 715,069 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Duke Energy by 273.2% in the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 766,313 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $67,635,000 after buying an additional 561,000 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on DUK. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 11th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Duke Energy from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a "sector perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE DUK traded down $0.47 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $98.26. The stock had a trading volume of 2,488,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,968,449. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $94.98 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.87. The firm has a market cap of $75.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $83.06 and a 1 year high of $100.13.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS 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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