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

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

Several equities analysts have commented on FE shares. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TD Private Client Wealth LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3.6% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $486,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 43.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 223,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,927,000 after acquiring an additional 68,111 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $2,050,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $267,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 16.8% during the third 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 currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.0 %

NYSE:FE opened at $41.79 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. 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 $42.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.45.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.