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

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) announced a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, September 24th, Wall Street Journal reports. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.425 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, December 1st. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th.

FirstEnergy has raised its dividend payment by an average of 0.4% annually over the last three years. FirstEnergy has a dividend payout ratio of 58.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $41.89 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy has a 1 year low of $34.92 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business’s 50-day moving average is $43.55 and its 200-day moving average is $41.19. The company has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on FE shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

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.