AJOVista LLC Invests $67,000 in Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK)

AJOVista LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $67,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Fortis Group Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Duke Energy in the third quarter valued at $50,000. Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Duke Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $71,000. PFS Partners LLC lifted its stake in Duke Energy by 145.0% in the 4th quarter. PFS Partners LLC now owns 735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,000 after purchasing an additional 435 shares during the last quarter. Operose Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Duke Energy by 263.2% during the third quarter. Operose Advisors LLC now owns 868 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $77,000 after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in Duke Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $77,000. 65.31% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada upgraded Duke Energy from a “sector perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $101.00 to $113.00 in a research note on Wednesday, January 10th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $101.00 to $99.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Duke Energy from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $108.00 in a research report on Tuesday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on Duke Energy from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.62.

Insider Buying and Selling at Duke Energy

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 stock was sold at an average price of $92.57, for a total value of $277,710.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 14,213 shares in the company, valued at $1,315,697.41. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.14% of the company’s stock.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

NYSE DUK opened at $100.45 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $77.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.24, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $95.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.17. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.50. Duke Energy Co. has a twelve month low of $83.06 and a twelve month high of $100.74.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.11 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect 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.