Bessemer Group Inc. Purchases 10,711 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,404,746 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,711 shares during the quarter. Bessemer Group Inc.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $126,062,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 100,433.2% in 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 purchasing an additional 7,838,811 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 9,639.5% during the 1st quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,538,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,676,000 after purchasing an additional 3,501,855 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 27.7% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,271,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $605,036,000 after buying an additional 1,361,658 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can bought a new position in Duke Energy during the second quarter valued at about $125,668,000. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,031,772,000 after buying an additional 1,037,012 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 63.68% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the subject of a number of research reports. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $92.00 to $91.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Duke Energy from $98.00 to $93.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $97.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Duke Energy from $98.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $105.00 to $98.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, August 9th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.36.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $89.30 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $90.88. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $106.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $68.82 billion, a PE ratio of 56.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.45.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.94 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.92 by $0.02. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.24% and a net margin of 4.47%. The firm had revenue of $7.99 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.13 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.78 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 18th. Investors of record on Friday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.025 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 16th. This represents a $4.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 261.15%.

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; and uses coal, hydroelectric, natural gas, oil, solar and wind sources, renewables, and nuclear fuel to generate electricity.