Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. Makes New $214,000 Investment in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

Valley Brook Capital Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 2,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in Duke Energy by 4.6% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 23,010,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,030,865,000 after acquiring an additional 1,002,157 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in Duke Energy by 9,164.0% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 979,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,031,000 after buying an additional 968,723 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in Duke Energy by 242.3% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,044,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $101,348,000 after acquiring an additional 739,112 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Duke Energy by 11.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 7,205,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $635,952,000 after acquiring an additional 715,069 shares during the period. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its holdings in shares of Duke Energy by 273.2% during the third quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 766,313 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,635,000 after acquiring an additional 561,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 65.31% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of Duke Energy stock traded up $0.95 on Friday, reaching $100.26. 4,338,461 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,636,808. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.35 billion, a PE ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $95.53 and a 200 day moving average of $94.17. Duke Energy Co. has a 52 week low of $83.06 and a 52 week high of $100.56.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.24 billion. Duke Energy had a net margin of 9.78% and a return on equity of 8.93%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.11 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Duke Energy Co. will post 5.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on DUK. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada raised shares of Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 10th. Evercore ISI raised shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Duke Energy from $103.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 9th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on Duke Energy from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Duke Energy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Insider Activity

In other Duke Energy 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 approximately $1,315,697.41. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.10% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.