Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Stock Price

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also issued reports on FE. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $39.62 on Thursday. FirstEnergy has a 12 month low of $36.81 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The stock has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.56, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.32. 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 (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FE. Boston Partners grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $331,795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133,083 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $195,672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,040 shares in the last quarter. Amundi grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,334,000 after acquiring an additional 939,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 118.2% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,271,000 after acquiring an additional 888,800 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.