FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target Cut to $40.00 by Analysts at Scotiabank

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective trimmed by Scotiabank from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a sector perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. KeyCorp upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com lowered FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a buy rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $38.30 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $37.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $32.18 and a one year high of $41.17.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,498,567,000 after purchasing an additional 18,853,983 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 31.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $540,996,000 after acquiring an additional 3,756,228 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,950,000 after acquiring an additional 407,350 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,930,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $344,908,000 after acquiring an additional 82,482 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 5,543,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $189,473,000 after acquiring an additional 92,561 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.