FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) to Issue $0.43 Quarterly Dividend

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, December 18th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, March 1st. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%.

FirstEnergy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.4% per year over the last three years. FirstEnergy has a payout ratio of 59.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect FirstEnergy to earn $2.90 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $1.70 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.6%.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.3 %

NYSE FE traded down $0.51 on Wednesday, hitting $39.33. 1,338,959 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,891,968. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $22.67 billion, a PE ratio of 25.37, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $42.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.64.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp., through its subsidiaries, generates, transmits, and distributes electricity in the United States. It operates through Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power generating facilities.