Duke Energy Co. to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $1.05 (NYSE:DUK)

Duke Energy Co. (NYSE:DUK) announced 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 3.86%.

Duke Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 2.0% per year 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% indicating that 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

Duke Energy stock opened at $108.30 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $111.14 and a 200-day moving average of $111.59. The firm has a market cap of $83.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.70, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. Duke Energy has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 EPS 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 business had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.06 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 2.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Duke Energy will post 5.95 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $102.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 18th. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.23.

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.