Duke Energy (DUK) will raise its quarterly dividend by 2.1 percent to $0.965 per share in 2020. This follows a 1.9 percent dividend hike by the utility company last year and marks the 16th consecutive year of dividend increases.

This dividend is payable on September 16, 2020, to shareholders of record at the close of business August 14, 2020. A new annual rate of $3.86 per share yields 4.8% at a stock price of $79.77. Duke Energy has paid a cash dividend on its common stock for 94 consecutive years.

Because of this new dividend hike the annual dividend payment by Duke Energy to shareholders will be $2.83 billion. The company has raised its dividend by 1.9 percent and 4.2 percent annually since 2011, with the biggest dividend hike being announced two years ago in 2018 (+4.2 percent) and the smallest increase in the last decade being announced in both 2014 and last year (+1.9 percent).

The stock price of Duke Energy is down almost 34 percent year-to-date, bringing the market cap of the utility company below $60 billion. The company has been paying a dividend to shareholders every year since at least 1926.

Duke Energy Corporation is an energy holding company incorporated on May 3, 2005, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Duke Energy’s segment structure includes three reportable business segments: Electric Utilities and Infrastructure, Gas Utilities and Infrastructure and Commercial Renewables. The Electric Utilities and Infrastructure unit's regulated utilities serve retail electric customers in six states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. The Gas Utilities and Infrastructure unit distributes natural gas to customers in five states – North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The Duke Energy Renewables unit operates wind and solar generation facilities across the U.S., as well as energy storage and microgrid projects.