Gray Wealth Management Inc. Sells 1,109 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Gray Wealth Management Inc. decreased its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 19.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,109 shares during the period. Gray Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of DUK. CKW Financial Group bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Compass Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Royal Bank of Canada raised Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.17.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK traded up $1.43 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $95.93. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,639,141 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,002,769. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $94.00 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $93.22. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.62, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

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.