Van ECK Associates Corp Reduces Holdings in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Van ECK Associates Corp reduced its stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 188,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,856 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $18,326,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of 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 worth $2,030,865,000 after buying an additional 1,002,157 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 9,164.0% during the 4th 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. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 242.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,348,000 after purchasing an additional 739,112 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $635,952,000 after purchasing an additional 715,069 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 273.2% in the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 766,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,635,000 after buying an additional 561,000 shares during the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

DUK has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America increased their price target on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Duke Energy news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of Duke Energy stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.14% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of DUK stock opened at $99.78 on Thursday. Duke Energy Co. has a 1-year low of $83.06 and a 1-year high of $100.56. The company has a market cap of $76.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $95.24 and a 200-day simple moving average of $93.98.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.11 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.