DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) Short Interest Up 19.9% in March

DTE Energy (NYSE:DTE) was the target of a significant growth in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,580,000 shares, a growth of 19.9% from the February 28th total of 3,820,000 shares. Currently, 2.2% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 1,280,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.6 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on DTE. Scotiabank boosted their target price on DTE Energy from $137.00 to $147.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of DTE Energy from $125.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of DTE Energy from $131.00 to $136.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of DTE Energy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, February 21st. Finally, KeyCorp cut DTE Energy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $138.58.

DTE Energy Trading Up 1.4 %

NYSE:DTE traded up $1.97 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $139.97. The company had a trading volume of 976,277 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,164,055. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 0.71 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $129.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.53. The company has a market capitalization of $29.05 billion, a PE ratio of 20.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.41 and a beta of 0.59. DTE Energy has a 52 week low of $103.06 and a 52 week high of $140.31.

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

DTE Energy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 17th will be given a $1.09 dividend. This represents a $4.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.11%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 17th. DTE Energy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 64.40%.

Insider Activity at DTE Energy

In related news, SVP Joann Chavez sold 7,062 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.40, for a total value of $935,008.80. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 14,067 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,862,470.80. This represents a 33.42 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Tracy J. Myrick sold 1,014 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $129.92, for a total value of $131,738.88. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 3,437 shares in the company, valued at $446,535.04. The trade was a 22.78 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 11,877 shares of company stock valued at $1,559,205 over the last three months. 0.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in DTE. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its holdings in DTE Energy by 2.4% in the third quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 5,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of DTE Energy by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 342,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,994,000 after buying an additional 19,678 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in shares of DTE Energy by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 8,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after buying an additional 810 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its stake in shares of DTE Energy by 124.4% in the 3rd quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 11,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,494,000 after acquiring an additional 6,452 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atom Investors LP lifted its position in DTE Energy by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter. Atom Investors LP now owns 2,540 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 633 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.