FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the fifteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.00.

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target 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. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $835,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,000 after buying an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $40.05 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.13. FirstEnergy has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced 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). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. Equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

About FirstEnergy

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.