DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) Hits New 12-Month High – Time to Buy?

DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) hit a new 52-week high on Thursday . The stock traded as high as $131.84 and last traded at $131.41, with a volume of 772460 shares. The stock had previously closed at $130.38.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on DTE shares. UBS Group upgraded DTE Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $129.00 to $143.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. StockNews.com cut shares of DTE Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Guggenheim raised shares of DTE Energy from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of DTE Energy from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of DTE Energy from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $137.00 to $135.00 in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given 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 an average price target of $135.67.

DTE Energy Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.71. The company has a market capitalization of $27.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.68. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.21.

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

DTE Energy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be issued a $1.09 dividend. This represents a $4.36 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. DTE Energy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 64.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other DTE Energy news, COO Matthew T. Paul sold 3,801 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.56, for a total value of $492,457.56. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 6,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $900,571.56. This trade represents a 35.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Tracy J. Myrick sold 1,014 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.92, for a total value of $131,738.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 3,437 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $446,535.04. The trade was a 22.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in DTE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of DTE Energy by 3.6% during the fourth 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 boosted its stake in shares of DTE Energy by 7.0% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 10,193,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,319,264,000 after purchasing an additional 662,569 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of DTE Energy by 44,009.5% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 7,039,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $903,878,000 after buying an additional 7,023,042 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of DTE Energy by 123.2% in the fourth 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 last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of DTE Energy by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,920,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $592,642,000 after buying an additional 115,270 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 76.06% of the company’s stock.

About DTE Energy

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.