Facet Wealth Inc. Makes New Investment in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Facet Wealth Inc. acquired a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 1,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after buying an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,529,000 after buying an additional 135,665 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 29.2% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,368,000 after buying an additional 561,784 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $2,537,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on DUK. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Scotiabank increased their price objective 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, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.93.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $120.29 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $93.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $92.75 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $112.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS 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 issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is currently 73.20%.

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.