FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Raises Dividend to $0.43 Per Share

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 20th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Saturday, June 1st. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41.

FirstEnergy has raised its dividend by an average of 0.4% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 2 consecutive years. FirstEnergy has a payout ratio of 59.4% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research 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 Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $39.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.23. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $40.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.