FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Receives $39.80 Average Price Target from Analysts

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.80.

A number of research firms have recently commented on FE. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,644,000. Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after buying an additional 218,439 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after buying an additional 136,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after buying an additional 607 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of FE opened at $39.47 on Friday. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $32.18 and a twelve month high of $40.42. The company has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $38.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.30.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 97.70%.

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.