FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twelve ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $46.27.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,398,000 after buying an additional 30,769 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy by 15.5% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 33,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 4,503 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 361.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 24,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 19,457 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 21.5% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 26,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 4,682 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $39.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $35.41 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.60. The stock has a market cap of $22.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.26, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.