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

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 24th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, September 1st. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th.

FirstEnergy has raised its dividend by an average of 0.4% per year over the last three years. FirstEnergy has a dividend payout ratio of 58.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect FirstEnergy to earn $2.89 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 58.8%.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.1 %

FE stock traded up $0.48 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $42.36. The stock had a trading volume of 275,187 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,975,421. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $24.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.49. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $32.18 and a 52-week high of $43.65.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. Barclays boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.92.

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.