Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC Sells 620 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.2% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 11,296 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 620 shares during the quarter. Sheaff Brock Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,217,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,016,846,000 after buying an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC lifted its holdings 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 worth $781,500,000 after acquiring an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after purchasing an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,832,000 after purchasing an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK stock opened at $111.69 on Monday. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $112.98. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $90.09 and a 12-month high of $121.25. The firm has a market cap of $86.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.53, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50.

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

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is presently 73.20%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. 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 note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six 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 stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

About Duke Energy

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.