23,078 Shares in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Acquired by Allstate Corp

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 23,078 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,486,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bailard Inc. lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Bailard Inc. now owns 31,921 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,439,000 after purchasing an additional 3,139 shares during the last quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Duke Energy by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. KMG Fiduciary Partners LLC now owns 52,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,613,000 after acquiring an additional 2,705 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 25.7% in the 4th quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 35,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,852,000 after acquiring an additional 7,319 shares during the last quarter. First Business Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy during the fourth quarter worth $384,000. Finally, Pines Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $1,032,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on DUK. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $129.00 to $132.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 11th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $123.87.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE:DUK opened at $119.42 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $92.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $115.17 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.70. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $92.75 and a 52 week high of $121.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 14.90% and a return on equity of 9.50%. On average, research analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Announces Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is 73.20%.

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.