Duke Energy Co. (DUK) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.05 on March 17th

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 9th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of 1.045 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.18 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.95%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

Duke Energy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 2.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 20 years. Duke Energy has a payout ratio of 62.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Duke Energy to earn $6.34 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $4.18 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.9%.

Duke Energy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:DUK opened at $105.93 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $81.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.47. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $111.00 and its 200 day simple moving average is $111.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Duke Energy has a fifty-two week low of $90.09 and a fifty-two week high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.73 by ($0.11). Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. The firm had revenue of $8.16 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Duke Energy will post 5.95 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on DUK. KeyCorp lowered Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “buy” rating and a $138.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $122.23.

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.