Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC Has $615,000 Position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC cut its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 6.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 420 shares during the period. Patton Albertson Miller Group LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of DUK. First Command Advisory Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 7,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $771,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co. now owns 14,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,405,000 after purchasing an additional 113 shares during the last quarter. Verum Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Verum Partners LLC now owns 3,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $372,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. J.W. Cole Advisors Inc. now owns 27,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,667,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy by 10.1% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,266 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $123,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Duke Energy

In related news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DUK. Barclays boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 10th. 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, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.31.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK traded up $0.63 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $103.01. 2,995,473 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,035,242. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.42. The company has a market cap of $79.47 billion, a PE ratio of 29.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $103.05.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.39 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

Duke Energy 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.