Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Stock Price

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective lowered by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $48.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 21.17% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $39.62 on Thursday. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.95 and a 200-day moving average of $41.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $22.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

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

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $195,672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,040 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 118.2% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,271,000 after purchasing an additional 888,800 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.