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

Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $45.91.

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after purchasing an additional 382 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 43.7% in the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 223,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,927,000 after purchasing an additional 68,111 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $2,050,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $267,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 16.8% during the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,267,000 after acquiring an additional 26,874 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $41.79 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $35.41 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $42.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 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. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

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.