Duke Energy crews have restored power to 131,059 Carolinas customers as of 2 p.m. on Jan. 26, leaving 21,976 still without service. Restoration efforts focus first on transmission lines and substations before moving to local distribution, with isolated pockets of extensive equipment damage in the Blue Ridge Escarpment region—particularly Hendersonville, Travelers Rest and Clemson—expected to require additional work into Tuesday. Duke Energy serves approximately 4.7 million electric customers in the Carolinas (3.8 million in North Carolina and 860,000 in South Carolina) and has mobilized more than 18,000 lineworkers, damage assessors and vegetation specialists, supported by mutual-aid crews from other states. The company also warns customers to be vigilant of a circulating text-message scam referencing rolling outages and urges them to avoid clicking on unsolicited links.

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI reduced its position in Duke Energy by 8.6% during the third quarter, selling 6,054 shares to hold 64,583 shares valued at $7.99 million as of its latest SEC filing. Overall, institutional investors and hedge funds own 65.31% of the company’s outstanding shares. In other insider activity, Executive Vice President Robert Alexander Glenn sold 8,200 shares at an average price of $123.80 on Nov. 19, reducing his position by 41.9% and leaving him with 11,367 shares.

For the quarter ended September 30, Duke Energy reported adjusted earnings per share of $1.81, topping analyst consensus by $0.06, with revenue of $8.54 billion representing a 4.8% year-over-year increase. Return on equity stood at 9.98%, and net margin at 15.76%. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.065 per share, payable on March 16 to shareholders of record as of February 13, implying an annual payout of $4.26 per share and a dividend-payout ratio of 66.98%. Equities research analysts collectively project full-year EPS of 6.33 for the current fiscal year.