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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th.

Duke Energy has increased its dividend payment by an average of 2.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 15 consecutive years. Duke Energy has a dividend payout ratio of 62.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Duke Energy to earn $6.33 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 66.0%.

Duke Energy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of DUK opened at $116.70 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55, a current ratio of 0.70 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $109.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $112.85. Duke Energy has a 1-year low of $90.09 and a 1-year high of $121.25. The stock has a market cap of $90.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on DUK shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $113.00 to $120.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Duke Energy from $119.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp cut shares of Duke Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Duke Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $116.00 to $121.00 in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered 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 research note on Friday, November 22nd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $122.08.

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.