Clearway Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CWEN) Raises Dividend to $0.43 Per Share

Clearway Energy, Inc. (NYSE:CWEN) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, February 17th, Wall Street Journal reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of 0.4312 per share on Monday, March 17th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This is an increase from Clearway Energy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.42.

Clearway Energy has raised its dividend by an average of 7.6% annually over the last three years. Clearway Energy has a payout ratio of 390.9% indicating that the company cannot currently cover its dividend with earnings alone and is relying on its balance sheet to cover its dividend payments. Research analysts expect Clearway Energy to earn $0.57 per share next year, which means the company may not be able to cover its $1.72 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 301.8%.

Clearway Energy Stock Performance

CWEN opened at $28.07 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $5.67 billion, a PE ratio of 26.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 0.88. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $26.14 and a 200-day moving average of $27.53. Clearway Energy has a 52-week low of $20.63 and a 52-week high of $30.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.49 and a current ratio of 1.59.

Clearway Energy (NYSE:CWEN) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, February 24th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.13 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $256.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $299.73 million. Clearway Energy had a return on equity of 2.28% and a net margin of 8.94%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Clearway Energy will post 0.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Clearway Energy

In other Clearway Energy news, Director Brian R. Ford sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.74, for a total value of $53,480.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,153 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $218,011.22. This represents a 19.70 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on CWEN. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $34.00 price target (up previously from $33.00) on shares of Clearway Energy in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded Clearway Energy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $34.17.

About Clearway Energy

Clearway Energy, Inc operates in the renewable energy business in the United States. The company operates through Conventional and Renewables segments. It has approximately 6,000 net MW of installed wind, solar, and energy generation projects; and approximately 2,500 net MW of natural gas-fired generation facilities.