Scotiabank Has Negative View of FirstEnergy FY2025 Earnings

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) – Equities researchers at Scotiabank dropped their FY2025 earnings per share (EPS) estimates for shares of FirstEnergy in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, March 19th. Scotiabank analyst A. Weisel now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $2.52 for the year, down from their prior forecast of $2.89. Scotiabank currently has a “Sector Outperform” rating and a $44.00 target price on the stock. The consensus estimate for FirstEnergy’s current full-year earnings is $2.66 per share. Scotiabank also issued estimates for FirstEnergy’s FY2026 earnings at $2.70 EPS.

Other equities research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.5 %

FE opened at $39.62 on Monday. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $36.81 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $39.95 and a 200-day moving average of $41.30. 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 company has a market capitalization of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Covestor Ltd grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.49%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.71%.

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.