Catalyst Financial Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Catalyst Financial Partners LLC lowered its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 357 shares during the quarter. Catalyst Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in DUK. CX Institutional lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 10.8% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 9.3% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 304,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,101,000 after purchasing an additional 25,937 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 2.8% during the third quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 9,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,097,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Provident Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy during the third quarter worth approximately $226,000. Finally, Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.4% during the third quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $464,000 after purchasing an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.08.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE:DUK opened at $113.89 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $109.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $112.93. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $87.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.91 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Duke Energy’s 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.