FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Receives $45.17 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.17.

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $41.78 on Friday. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.68. The company has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for 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%. Research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 104.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.5% in the first quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $222,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Finally, AHL Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.4% in the first quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $906,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.