Oakworth Capital Inc. Decreases Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Oakworth Capital Inc. trimmed its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 8,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 724 shares during the period. Oakworth Capital Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $807,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,865,000 after buying an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Duke Energy by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,468,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $923,907,000 after buying an additional 492,011 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada raised its position in Duke Energy by 2.7% in the second quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 9,635,102 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $864,652,000 after purchasing an additional 257,665 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Duke Energy by 1.9% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 7,918,910 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $698,923,000 after purchasing an additional 144,612 shares during the period. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy by 100,433.2% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 7,846,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,123,000 after acquiring an additional 7,838,811 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction 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 owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK stock traded up $1.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $94.47. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,013,197 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,996,932. The business has a fifty day moving average of $94.02 and a 200-day moving average of $93.21. The stock has a market cap of $72.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $100.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its 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 return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on DUK shares. 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. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.17.

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.