Sheets Smith Wealth Management Sells 2,354 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Sheets Smith Wealth Management lowered its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,354 shares during the quarter. Sheets Smith Wealth Management’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $3,169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PBMares Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. PBMares Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $563,000 after purchasing an additional 86 shares during the period. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Duke Energy by 2.1% in the second quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $444,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Castleview Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Duke Energy by 4.9% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 1,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $224,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Duke Energy by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Kanawha Capital Management LLC now owns 6,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 92 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Capital LLC now owns 10,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,172,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. 65.31% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $113.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $121.85.

Duke Energy Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $113.23 on Friday. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $86.61 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.44 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.56, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a current ratio of 0.81. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $115.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.73.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.71% and a net margin of 14.29%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th will be issued a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 15th. Duke Energy’s payout ratio is 76.98%.

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.