DUK vs. AEP, LNT, CMS, CNP, D, DTE, ED, NEE, SO, and WEC
Should you be buying Duke Energy stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Duke Energy include American Electric Power (AEP), Alliant Energy (LNT), CMS Energy (CMS), CenterPoint Energy (CNP), Dominion Energy (D), DTE Energy (DTE), Consolidated Edison (ED), NextEra Energy (NEE), Southern (SO), and WEC Energy Group (WEC). These companies are all part of the "util - elec pwr" industry.
Duke Energy vs. Its Competitors
American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) and Duke Energy (NYSE:DUK) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their profitability, institutional ownership, dividends, valuation, media sentiment, analyst recommendations, earnings and risk.
In the previous week, Duke Energy had 12 more articles in the media than American Electric Power. MarketBeat recorded 39 mentions for Duke Energy and 27 mentions for American Electric Power. American Electric Power's average media sentiment score of 1.31 beat Duke Energy's score of 1.15 indicating that American Electric Power is being referred to more favorably in the media.
American Electric Power currently has a consensus target price of $108.31, indicating a potential upside of 2.82%. Duke Energy has a consensus target price of $126.88, indicating a potential upside of 8.07%. Given Duke Energy's stronger consensus rating and higher possible upside, analysts clearly believe Duke Energy is more favorable than American Electric Power.
American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.5%. Duke Energy pays an annual dividend of $4.18 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.6%. American Electric Power pays out 71.7% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Duke Energy pays out 69.3% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Both companies have healthy payout ratios and should be able to cover their dividend payments with earnings for the next several years. American Electric Power has raised its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Duke Energy has raised its dividend for 20 consecutive years. Duke Energy is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.
Duke Energy has a net margin of 15.40% compared to American Electric Power's net margin of 13.73%. American Electric Power's return on equity of 11.68% beat Duke Energy's return on equity.
Duke Energy has higher revenue and earnings than American Electric Power. Duke Energy is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than American Electric Power, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
75.2% of American Electric Power shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 65.3% of Duke Energy shares are held by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are held by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.1% of Duke Energy shares are held by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that large money managers, endowments and hedge funds believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.
American Electric Power has a beta of 0.42, suggesting that its share price is 58% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Duke Energy has a beta of 0.37, suggesting that its share price is 63% less volatile than the S&P 500.
Summary
Duke Energy beats American Electric Power on 13 of the 19 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding DUK and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Skip ChartMedia Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
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Duke Energy Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:DUK) was last updated on 7/12/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff