Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) Shares Purchased by Little House Capital LLC

Little House Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 65.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,194 shares during the period. Little House Capital LLC’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $1,513,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 7.9% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 6,761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $597,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 6.9% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 4,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $374,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 10.4% in the third quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,377 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $386,000 after acquiring an additional 413 shares in the last quarter. TFG Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 17.6% in the third quarter. TFG Advisers LLC now owns 3,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $284,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 28.2% in the third quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 24,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,197,000 after acquiring an additional 5,479 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DUK. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Duke Energy Price Performance

DUK traded down $1.32 on Friday, hitting $97.71. 1,994,792 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,375,920. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business’s fifty day moving average is $94.84 and its 200 day moving average is $93.77. Duke Energy Co. has a fifty-two week low of $83.06 and a fifty-two week high of $100.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $75.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.53 by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $7.21 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 EPS for the current year.

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.