Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ Purchases New Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Groesbeck Investment Management Corp NJ purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $618,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 155.1% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after buying an additional 1,138,979 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on DUK. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upgraded Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $112.46 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The company has a market capitalization of $86.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $110.00 and its 200 day moving average is $112.61. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

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.