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

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 3.86%.

Duke Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 2.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 20 consecutive years. Duke Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 62.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:DUK traded up $1.49 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $108.30. 3,209,280 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,107,656. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $111.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $111.62. The company has a market cap of $83.66 billion, a PE ratio of 19.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.49. Duke Energy has a twelve month low of $90.09 and a twelve month high of $121.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.70.

Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.73 by ($0.11). The company had revenue of $8.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.06 billion. Duke Energy had a return on equity of 9.34% and a net margin of 14.31%. Duke Energy’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.94 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Duke Energy will post 5.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DUK has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp cut Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Duke Energy in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $138.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Duke Energy from $120.00 to $126.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 18th. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $122.00 to $118.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Duke Energy has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average 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.