Market Update (NYSE:DUK): Solar rankings: Duke Energy among Top 3 in the nation

[PR Newswire] – CHARLOTTE, N.C., April 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Duke Energy continues to be a national leader for the amount of solar energy connected to the grid for its retail customers. In the Top 10 utility solar lists compiled by the Smart Electric Power Alliance (SEPA), Duke Energy Progress (DEP) was ranked third among all utility companies for bringing on new solar capacity during 2015. “Our customers are experiencing the benefits of Duke Energy’s work to support the growth and expansion of solar generation in this region,” said David Fountain, Duke Energy’s North Carolina president. Read more on this. Duke Energy Corporation (DUK) , valued at $54.63B, started the session at $80.41. Today’s price range has been between $79.13 and $80.41 per share and has traded between $65.50 and $81.39 over the past year. DUK shares are currently priced at 17.44x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 16.76x earnings multiple for the same period. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $3.30 per share annually in dividends, yielding 4.14%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 9 sell-side analysts are looking at $1.17 per share, which would be $0.07 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.00 sequential decrease. The full-year EPS estimate is $4.60 which would be a $0.06 better than last year’s full-year earnings. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $6.03 Billion. If reported, that would be a 0.50% decrease over the year-ago quarter. Recently, JP Morgan downgraded DUK from Overweight to Neutral (Feb 19, 2016). Previously, Wells Fargo downgraded DUK from Outperform to Market Perform. When considering if the stock is under or overvalued, the average price target is $79.15, which is 1.57% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:DUK) Similar Articles: Company Update: Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) – Duke Energy Renewables acquires two North Carolina solar projects from ET Capital Company Update: Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) – Duke Energy Renewables acquires 20-MW Longboat Solar Project in California from EDF Renewable Energy Stock Update: Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK) – North Carolina solar was hot in 2015; Duke Energy led the charge