Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Purchases New Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $395,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. South Street Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Duke Energy during the third quarter valued at approximately $223,000. KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 5.0% in the third quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $410,000 after buying an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. RIA Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at approximately $522,000. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.0% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 685,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $79,059,000 after buying an additional 26,172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northcape Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.3% in the third quarter. Northcape Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,593,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on DUK shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $112.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $115.40 and its two-hundred day moving average is $109.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $86.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $88.27 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

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

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.84%.

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.