FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) to Issue Dividend Increase - $0.45 Per Share

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, March 19th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of 0.445 per share by the utilities provider on Sunday, June 1st. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a 4.7% increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43.

FirstEnergy has raised its dividend by an average of 2.6% annually over the last three years. FirstEnergy has a dividend payout ratio of 63.6% 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 $1.78 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.6%.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of FE traded down $0.53 during trading on Monday, reaching $39.03. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,700,942 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,129,415. The company has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.26. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

An institutional investor recently bought a new position in FirstEnergy stock. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 6,441 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $256,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

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.