Jennison Associates LLC Purchases New Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Jennison Associates LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 3,965 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $385,000.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,031,000 after buying an additional 968,723 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 242.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,348,000 after buying an additional 739,112 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after buying an additional 715,069 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 273.2% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 766,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,635,000 after buying an additional 561,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $97.71 on Monday. Duke Energy Co. has a 12 month low of $83.06 and a 12 month high of $100.13. The stock has a market cap of $75.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.80.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. 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. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.