FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $0.45

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, July 23rd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be given a dividend of 0.445 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, September 1st. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th.

FirstEnergy has a dividend payout ratio of 65.9% 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 $1.78 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.6%.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock traded up $0.56 on Friday, reaching $41.96. The company had a trading volume of 5,689,792 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,680,821. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.21 billion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $44.97. The business's 50-day moving average is $40.74 and its 200 day moving average is $40.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.49% and a net margin of 7.78%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,299,514.57. This trade represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total transaction of $503,640.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This trade represents a 98.50% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of FE. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $256,000. Woodline Partners LP grew its position in FirstEnergy by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 43,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth grew its position in FirstEnergy by 6.8% in the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,178 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter valued at $289,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FE. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group set a $44.00 price objective on FirstEnergy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Bank of America raised FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.92.

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.