IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) Declares $0.86 Quarterly Dividend

IDACORP, Inc. (NYSE:IDA) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 16th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, February 5th will be paid a dividend of 0.86 per share by the energy company on Friday, February 28th. This represents a $3.44 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.12%.

IDACORP has increased its dividend by an average of 5.2% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 13 consecutive years. IDACORP has a payout ratio of 54.1% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect IDACORP to earn $5.86 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.44 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 58.7%.

IDACORP Stock Performance

Shares of IDA opened at $110.26 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.34, a current ratio of 1.70 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. IDACORP has a 52-week low of $86.43 and a 52-week high of $120.42. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.08 and a 200-day simple moving average of $105.21. The company has a market capitalization of $5.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

IDACORP (NYSE:IDA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The energy company reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.17 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $528.53 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $524.39 million. IDACORP had a net margin of 15.35% and a return on equity of 9.17%. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that IDACORP will post 5.41 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on IDA. Bank of America upgraded IDACORP from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $113.00 to $117.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on IDACORP from $106.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com cut shares of IDACORP from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of IDACORP from $110.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of IDACORP in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $110.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, IDACORP currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $111.00.

About IDACORP

IDACORP, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, distribution, purchase, and sale of electric energy in the United States. The company operates 17 hydropower generating plants located in southern Idaho and eastern Oregon; three natural gas-fired plants in southern Idaho; and interests in two coal-fired steam electric generating plants located in Wyoming and Nevada.