Morgan Stanley Cuts FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $52.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $53.00 to $52.00 in a research report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other analysts also recently commented on the company. Barclays cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings cut FirstEnergy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. TD Cowen raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $56.00 to $53.00 in a report on Friday, May 15th. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.83.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $45.99 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $47.92 and its 200-day moving average price is $48.31. The company has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a PE ratio of 24.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.46. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $42.87 and a 52-week high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.465 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,109,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,049,255,000 after acquiring an additional 761,157 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its position in FirstEnergy by 13.5% during the third quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,344,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $841,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,400 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 126,834 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 34,014 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $508,158,000 after acquiring an additional 694,449 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About FirstEnergy

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.