FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Hits New 52-Week High After Analyst Upgrade

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)’s share price hit a new 52-week high on Thursday after Barclays raised their price target on the stock from $50.00 to $53.00. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the stock. FirstEnergy traded as high as $52.34 and last traded at $52.1740, with a volume of 472640 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $51.40.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings upgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Monday, March 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded FirstEnergy from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, January 27th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $54.00 to $53.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $50.15.

Insider Transactions at FirstEnergy

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 1,373 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.84, for a total transaction of $69,803.32. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James F. Oneil sold 7,945 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $50.60, for a total value of $402,017.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,869 shares in the company, valued at $94,571.40. This represents a 80.96% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 39,118 shares of company stock valued at $1,989,532. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.4% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 78,328,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,588,992,000 after acquiring an additional 305,531 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,109,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,049,255,000 after buying an additional 761,157 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 13.5% in the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,344,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $841,161,000 after buying an additional 2,185,400 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,463,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,351,000 after buying an additional 126,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,722,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $524,815,000 after buying an additional 34,014 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.5%

The stock has a market cap of $30.14 billion, a PE ratio of 29.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.60. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $49.74 and a 200 day moving average of $47.21. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.83.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.50% and a net margin of 6.76%.During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.67 earnings per share. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.620-2.820 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, May 7th will be issued a $0.465 dividend. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.6%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.45. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 101.14%.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid‑Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.