Wednesday before the markets opened, Duke Energy Corp. (NYSE: DUK) reported its fourth-quarter financial results as $0.86 in earnings per share (EPS). That compared to Thomson Reuters consensus estimates of $0.88 in EPS on $6.25 billion in revenue. In the fourth quarter of the previous year, Duke posted EPS of $1.00 on revenue of $6.11 billion.
The company gave guidance for the 2015 full year as EPS in the range of $4.55 to $4.75. The consensus estimate is $4.57 in EPS for the 2015 full year.
Duke is in settlement discussions with the U.S. government to close the federal grand jury investigation of Duke Energy related to the Dan River spill. The company expects a proposed agreement could be reached and filed in the next several days.
Regulated Utilities results were affected by higher operations and maintenance expenses, primarily related to nuclear outage cost levelization in the Carolinas. In terms of its segments, compared to the fourth quarter of 2013, Duke reported:
- Regulated Utilities had adjusted segment income of $551 million, down $607 million in past year.
- International Energy had adjusted segment income of $72 million, down from $108 million.
- Commercial Power had adjusted segment income of $32 million, compared to a loss of $3 million.
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International Energy declared a taxable dividend of in the form of note distribution of $2.7 billion, which Duke will have to pay income taxes on. The tax charge comes down to $373 million total in the fourth quarter that will be paid to the United States.
Lynn Good, president and CEO of Duke, said:
2014 was a year of great accomplishment and challenge. Our system reliably met record customer demands during the 2014 polar vortex. Our teams quickly and safely responded to over 1.7 million customer outages following two major ice storms early in the year.
A couple of analysts made calls toward the end of January regarding this utility giant. Argus maintained a Buy rating and raised its price target to $99.00 from $93.00. J.P. Morgan maintained an Overweight rating and raised its price target to $94.00 from $91.00. From Friday’s close of $79.84, the new price targets imply upside of 24.0% and 17.7%, respectively.
Shares of Duke closed Tuesday down 0.6% at $79.39. Just after the opening bell, shares were up fractionally at $80.06. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $85.00 and a 52-week trading range of $68.10 to $89.97.
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