Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Decreases Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 182,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,774 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $21,037,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 11,471.4% in the 3rd quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 13,829.1% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,125,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $129,782,000 after buying an additional 1,117,526 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 65.7% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 9,923.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 769,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,103,000 after buying an additional 761,590 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BROOKFIELD Corp ON acquired a new position in Duke Energy in the 1st quarter worth $36,278,000. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $110.00 to $122.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK traded down $0.05 on Wednesday, hitting $111.83. The stock had a trading volume of 159,223 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,049,796. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $88.27 and a one year high of $121.25. 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 stock has a market cap of $86.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.07 and a beta of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average is $115.73 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.07.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The company’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.