OneAscent Financial Services LLC Trims Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

OneAscent Financial Services LLC trimmed its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 17.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,340 shares during the period. OneAscent Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in Duke Energy by 3.2% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 11,493,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,111,521,000 after buying an additional 352,320 shares during the period. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC grew its position 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 valued at $781,500,000 after purchasing an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,471,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,672,000 after buying an additional 40,243 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 0.3% during 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 during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 65.7% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,052,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,769,000 after buying an additional 813,744 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $135.00 price objective on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $120.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $108.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $121.85.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK opened at $113.57 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $115.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $109.43. The firm has a market cap of $87.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.88, a PEG ratio of 2.96 and a beta of 0.47. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $88.27 and a twelve month high of $121.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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%. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.97 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.84%.

Duke Energy Company 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.