Hennessy Advisors Inc. Acquires 3,100 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,100 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $12,647,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Goodman Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,888,000. CCM Investment Advisers LLC increased its stake in Duke Energy by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 83,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,008,000 after acquiring an additional 16,356 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 59.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 23,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 8,699 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 17,488,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,016,846,000 after acquiring an additional 442,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 86.5% during the fourth quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 148,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,021,000 after purchasing an additional 68,977 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on DUK shares. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays increased their target price on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $122.23.

Duke Energy Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $109.05 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $90.09 and a one year high of $121.25. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $110.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.05, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 14.31% and a return on equity of 9.34%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.83%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.