ProShare Advisors LLC Purchases 29,380 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 28.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 131,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,380 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $14,216,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of DUK. ExodusPoint Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $163,819,000. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 116.5% during the fourth quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 2,065,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,520,000 after acquiring an additional 1,111,581 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,852,731,000 after purchasing an additional 779,054 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Duke Energy by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,838,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $521,322,000 after purchasing an additional 625,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised its stake in Duke Energy by 29.2% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,368,000 after purchasing an additional 561,784 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $111.00 to $123.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $128.00 to $123.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $130.00 to $142.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $126.00.

Duke Energy Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $116.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Duke Energy Co. has a 1 year low of $99.21 and a 1 year high of $125.27. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $119.29 and its 200-day moving average is $114.54.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.59 by $0.17. The company had revenue of $8.25 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.70 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 69.32%.

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.