Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 110 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 1.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 110 shares during the period. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $967,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in 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 worth $2,016,846,000 after purchasing an additional 442,302 shares in the last quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC boosted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 11,471.4% during the third quarter. Pathway Financial Advisers LLC now owns 6,777,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $781,500,000 after buying an additional 6,719,398 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 2,290,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $264,111,000 after buying an additional 6,500 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment purchased a new stake in Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at $2,537,000. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 155.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,873,321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,832,000 after acquiring an additional 1,138,979 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Duke Energy Price Performance

Duke Energy stock opened at $111.42 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $110.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $112.46. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $90.09 and a 52 week high of $121.25. The stock has a market cap of $86.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.48, a PEG ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.92 earnings per share 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.045 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.75%. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.84%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on DUK shares. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

About Duke Energy

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.