DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) hit a new 52-week high on Monday . The stock traded as high as $139.05 and last traded at $137.63, with a volume of 43733 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $136.57.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on DTE shares. Scotiabank raised their price objective on DTE Energy from $137.00 to $147.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on DTE Energy from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 18th. UBS Group raised shares of DTE Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $129.00 to $143.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com raised shares of DTE Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of DTE Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $137.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, DTE Energy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $138.58.

DTE Energy Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 0.71, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $128.84 and its 200 day moving average price is $125.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $28.69 billion, a PE ratio of 20.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.59.

DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The utilities provider reported $1.51 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.50 by $0.01. DTE Energy had a return on equity of 12.42% and a net margin of 11.27%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that DTE Energy will post 7.18 earnings per share for the current year.

DTE Energy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Monday, March 17th will be paid a $1.09 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. This represents a $4.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. DTE Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.40%.

Insider Activity

In other DTE Energy news, SVP Joann Chavez sold 7,062 shares of DTE Energy stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $132.40, for a total transaction of $935,008.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 14,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,862,470.80. The trade was a 33.42 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, COO Matthew T. Paul sold 3,801 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.56, for a total transaction of $492,457.56. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $900,571.56. The trade was a 35.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 11,877 shares of company stock worth $1,559,205 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of DTE Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DTE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of DTE Energy by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 25,286,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,053,330,000 after acquiring an additional 879,670 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of DTE Energy by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,193,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,319,264,000 after buying an additional 662,569 shares during the period. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of DTE Energy by 123.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 6,823,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $823,905,000 after buying an additional 3,766,221 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of DTE Energy by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,920,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $592,642,000 after buying an additional 115,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners raised its position in shares of DTE Energy by 25.1% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 2,899,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $350,150,000 after buying an additional 582,643 shares during the period. 76.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

DTE Energy Company Profile

DTE Energy Company engages in the utility operations. The company's Electric segment generates, purchases, distributes, and sells electricity to various residential, commercial, and industrial customers in southeastern Michigan. It generates electricity through coal-fired plants, hydroelectric pumped storage, and nuclear plants, as well as wind and solar assets.