Hyman Charles D Sells 3,887 Shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Hyman Charles D reduced its position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 172,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,887 shares during the quarter. Hyman Charles D’s holdings in Duke Energy were worth $16,769,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Pacific Capital Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Fortis Group Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Duke Energy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $50,000. AJOVista LLC acquired a new position in Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $67,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the 4th quarter valued at $71,000. Finally, PFS Partners LLC increased its holdings in Duke Energy by 145.0% in the 4th quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Louis E. Renjel sold 3,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.14% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on DUK shares. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America increased their target price on Duke Energy from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Duke Energy from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 23rd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.31.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE DUK traded up $0.13 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $102.39. 3,497,929 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,033,088. The company has a 50-day moving average of $95.96 and a 200-day moving average of $94.37. Duke Energy Co. has a 52-week low of $83.06 and a 52-week high of $102.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $78.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.39 by $0.05. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. The company had revenue of $7.67 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.20 EPS. Duke Energy’s revenue was up 5.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast 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.