Bailard Inc. Has $2.51 Million Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Bailard Inc. decreased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 25,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 304 shares during the quarter. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $2,505,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,031,000 after purchasing an additional 968,723 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 242.3% in the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,348,000 after acquiring an additional 739,112 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after purchasing an additional 715,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 273.2% during the 3rd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 766,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,635,000 after acquiring an additional 561,000 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

DUK has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Bank of America upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.62.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock traded down $0.66 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $98.37. The company had a trading volume of 250,896 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,961,443. Duke Energy Co. has a 12-month low of $83.06 and a 12-month high of $100.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $93.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The company has a market capitalization of $75.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

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.