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. Stockholders 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 4.34%.

FirstEnergy has increased its dividend by an average of 0.4% annually over the last three years. FirstEnergy has a payout ratio of 59.0% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Trading Down 1.8 %

FE opened at $39.14 on Thursday. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $35.41 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a fifty day moving average of $41.95 and a 200-day moving average of $41.62. The stock has a market cap of $22.56 billion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51. 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 (NYSE:FE) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

About FirstEnergy

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.