FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.00.

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FE. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Sachetta LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 36.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.4% during the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after acquiring an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.2% in the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 44,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,701,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $43.41 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $43.67 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.00 billion, a PE ratio of 30.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.50. FirstEnergy has a 52 week low of $34.91 and a 52 week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 120.57%.

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.