Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Bought by ORG Partners LLC

ORG Partners LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 31.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the quarter. ORG Partners LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $126,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% in 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 last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,468,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $923,907,000 after acquiring an additional 492,011 shares during the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,635,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $864,652,000 after acquiring an additional 257,665 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,918,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $698,923,000 after acquiring an additional 144,612 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 100,433.2% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,123,000 after acquiring an additional 7,838,811 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $100.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $101.00.

Duke Energy Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $94.90 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $73.21 billion, a PE ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $94.09 and a 200-day moving average of $93.14. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.39. 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) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.11 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

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.