Field & Main Bank Increases Stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Field & Main Bank grew its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 285 shares during the quarter. Field & Main Bank’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $470,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. FSC Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth $29,000. Legacy Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $71,000. Finally, PFS Partners LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 145.0% during the 4th quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after acquiring an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on DUK. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.62.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

DUK traded up $0.98 during trading on Monday, reaching $98.69. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,125,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,972,365. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $94.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $93.87. The company has a market capitalization of $76.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $100.13.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The business had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.11 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.