Raymond James & Associates Grows Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,924,229 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 35,676 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.25% of Duke Energy worth $186,092,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 valued at $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,031,000 after purchasing an additional 968,723 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,515,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $799,599,000 after purchasing an additional 842,458 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position 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 valued at $101,348,000 after buying an additional 739,112 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $635,952,000 after buying an additional 715,069 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on DUK shares. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI upgraded Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Seven equities 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DUK traded down $1.32 during trading on Friday, hitting $97.71. The stock had a trading volume of 1,994,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,375,920. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $100.13. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.84 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.