Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. Makes New $154,000 Investment in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $154,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Cibc World Market Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 1.2% during the first quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. now owns 47,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,276,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 29.5% in the first quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 9,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,089,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in Duke Energy by 447.8% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 1,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $141,000 after purchasing an additional 1,030 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Duke Energy by 5.2% in the first quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 6,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $726,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Duke Energy Price Performance

Shares of DUK traded up $2.31 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $98.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,212,878 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,299,082. Duke Energy Co. has a one year low of $83.06 and a one year high of $100.39. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.46.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.53 by ($0.02). The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 8.93% and a net margin of 9.78%. The company’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.11 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on DUK shares. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 5th. Evercore ISI raised Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Duke Energy from $99.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $101.17.

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.