Do Hedge Funds Love Duke Energy Corp (DUK)?

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Consequently, key hedge funds were leading the bulls’ herd. Electron Capital Partners, managed by Jos Shaver, initiated the most valuable position in Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK). Electron Capital Partners had $1.9 million invested in the company at the end of the quarter. Ben Levine, Andrew Manuel and Stefan Renold’s LMR Partners also made a $1 million investment in the stock during the quarter. The following funds were also among the new DUK investors: Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP, Dmitry Balyasny’s Balyasny Asset Management, and Jacob Gottlieb’s Visium Asset Management.

Let’s also examine hedge fund activity in other stocks – not necessarily in the same industry as Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) but similarly valued. We will take a look at Target Corporation (NYSE:TGT), BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE:BLK), HDFC Bank Limited (ADR) (NYSE:HDB), and The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW). This group of stocks’ market values matches Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK)’s market value.

Ticker No of HFs with positions Total Value of HF Positions (x1000) Change in HF Position
TGT 44 1454433 0
BLK 33 507373 -2
HDB 29 1332917 2
DOW 56 5591962 -9

As you can see, these stocks had an average of 41 hedge funds with bullish positions and the average amount invested in these stocks was $2.22 billion. That figure was $646 million in Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK)’s case. The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE:DOW) is the most popular stock in this table. On the other hand, HDFC Bank Limited (ADR) (NYSE:HDB) is the least popular one with only 29 bullish hedge fund positions. Compared to these stocks, Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) is even less popular than HDFC Bank Limited (ADR) (NYSE:HDB). Considering that hedge funds aren’t fond of this stock in relation to other companies analyzed in this article, it may be a good idea to analyze it in detail and understand why the smart money isn’t behind this stock. This isn’t necessarily bad news. Although it is possible that hedge funds may think the stock is overpriced and view the stock as a short candidate, they may not be very familiar with the bullish thesis. In either case, more research is warranted.

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