Scotiabank Has Negative View of FirstEnergy FY2024 Earnings

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) – Investment analysts at Scotiabank dropped their FY2024 earnings estimates for shares of FirstEnergy in a report released on Wednesday, January 8th. Scotiabank analyst A. Weisel now expects that the utilities provider will post earnings of $2.67 per share for the year, down from their previous forecast of $2.70. Scotiabank has a “Sector Outperform” rating and a $50.00 price objective on the stock. The consensus estimate for FirstEnergy’s current full-year earnings is $2.68 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for FirstEnergy’s FY2026 earnings at $3.07 EPS.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on FE. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $38.75 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.52. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.74 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.70.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) 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 last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. CCM Investment Advisers LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 298,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,885,000 after acquiring an additional 3,989 shares during the last quarter. First Hawaiian Bank lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 25.4% during the fourth quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 20,784 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $827,000 after purchasing an additional 4,212 shares during the period. Farmers Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 6,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 351 shares during the last quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 33.3% in the fourth quarter. Fulton Bank N.A. now owns 14,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,548 shares during the period. Finally, Pensionfund Sabic raised its position in FirstEnergy by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 35,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.