Schroder Investment Management Group Purchases 193,381 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Schroder Investment Management Group grew its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 27.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 892,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 193,381 shares during the period. Schroder Investment Management Group’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $96,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of DUK. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 72,885,939 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,852,731,000 after acquiring an additional 779,054 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 2.6% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Duke Energy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,562,545 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,529,000 after buying an additional 135,665 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Duke Energy by 29.2% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 2,488,849 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,368,000 after buying an additional 561,784 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Groupama Asset Managment bought a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,537,000. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim raised their price target on Duke Energy from $132.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 5th. 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 report on Thursday, March 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $128.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 11th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $123.00 to $127.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $114.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $123.87.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of DUK opened at $119.42 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $115.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $113.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.79 billion, a PE ratio of 20.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.48. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $92.75 and a one year high of $121.47.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.66 EPS 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 6.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Duke Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.045 dividend. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. Duke Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.20%.

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.