State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System Cuts Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System trimmed its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 947,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 17,675 shares during the quarter. State Board of Administration of Florida Retirement System’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $88,148,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 0.5% in the first quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 20,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,326,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.8% in the second quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 2,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 97 shares during the period. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in the second quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. now owns 3,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. LexAurum Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 4.2% in the second quarter. LexAurum Advisors LLC now owns 2,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Naples Global Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.5% in the second quarter. Naples Global Advisors LLC now owns 19,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,098,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. 63.22% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Credit Suisse Group decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, November 21st. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 12th. They issued a “hold” rating on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $116.00 to $108.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $111.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.45.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK traded down $0.45 on Thursday, hitting $102.09. 267,805 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,620,355. The firm has a market cap of $78.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $102.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $101.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.32. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.76 and a one year high of $116.33.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.78 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.83 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $7.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.03% and a return on equity of 8.24%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.88 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.28 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.005 per share. This represents a $4.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.94%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, February 16th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.05%.

Duke Energy Company Profile

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Duke Energy Corp. engages in the distribution of natural gas and energy related services. It operates through the following segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities & Infrastructure and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure segment conducts operations in regulated electric utilities in the Carolinas, Florida and the Midwest.