Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC lowered its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 167,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 868 shares during the quarter. Duke Energy accounts for 1.3% of Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Woodmont Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $18,008,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Bank boosted its position in Duke Energy by 2.7% in the third quarter. United Bank now owns 4,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $549,000 after purchasing an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 33,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,830,000 after purchasing an additional 6,724 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 21.1% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 93,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,766,000 after buying an additional 16,259 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 259.1% during the third quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 3,676 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nwam LLC bought a new position in Duke Energy in the third quarter worth approximately $586,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $119.01 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $92.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $114.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.65. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $92.75 and a fifty-two week high of $121.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.61 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.50% and a net margin of 14.90%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.045 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.51%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.20%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on DUK. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.87.

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.