Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Holdings Reduced by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. decreased its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 4.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 47,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,331 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $4,618,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in DUK. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $808,123,000 after acquiring an additional 7,838,811 shares in the last quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 8,722.3% during the second quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,127,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,784,000 after purchasing an additional 1,115,053 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 11.5% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 10,018,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,031,772,000 after purchasing an additional 1,037,012 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,865,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002,157 shares during the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 9,164.0% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,031,000 after purchasing an additional 968,723 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on DUK shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 9th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $101.17.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of NYSE DUK opened at $94.50 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $100.39. The company has a market cap of $72.90 billion, a PE ratio of 26.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $93.22.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.11 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Duke Energy

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total transaction of $277,710.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.14% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.