StockNews.com Upgrades FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) to Hold

StockNews.com upgraded shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report issued on Monday.

Several other research firms also recently weighed in on FE. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective 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. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a buy rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $38.78 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $37.17. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $40.42. The firm has a market cap of $22.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.29 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 8.22%. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. Analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 94.25%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors raised its position in FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,498,567,000 after purchasing an additional 18,853,983 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,996,000 after buying an additional 3,756,228 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,307,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $121,271,000 after buying an additional 1,158,034 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after buying an additional 590,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 3.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,950,000 after acquiring an additional 407,350 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.