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

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 payment by an average of 0.4% per year over the last three years. FirstEnergy has a dividend payout ratio of 59.0% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. 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 Performance

NYSE FE opened at $39.14 on Thursday. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week 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 company has a market capitalization of $22.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Bank of America boosted 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. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average 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.