Cypress Capital Group Lowers Stock Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Cypress Capital Group cut its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 19,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,015 shares during the quarter. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,114,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew 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 worth $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,529,000 after acquiring an additional 135,665 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after acquiring an additional 6,500 shares during the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $2,537,000. Finally, Capital Wealth Planning LLC grew its position in shares of 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 last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

DUK has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.62.

Duke Energy Trading Down 1.9 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $116.46 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $89.96 billion, a PE ratio of 20.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.44, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $92.33 and a 52-week high of $121.25. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $111.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $113.19.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.59%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.20%.

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.