FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Stock Has Average Target Price of $50.82 According to Analysts

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $50.82.

Several equities analysts recently commented on FE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. New Street Research set a $47.00 target price on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Mizuho set a $47.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, September 14th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth about $9,878,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 6,066.6% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 495,299 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,547,000 after purchasing an additional 487,267 shares during the last quarter. Nykredit A S acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at about $1,033,000. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 612.9% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 93,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,441,000 after purchasing an additional 80,308 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 32.9% in the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,141,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,332,000 after purchasing an additional 282,866 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.0%

Shares of FE stock opened at $45.70 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $45.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.99. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $42.67 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $26.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be issued a dividend of $0.4650 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 98.94%.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is an electric utility company focused on the transmission and distribution of electricity. Through its regulated utility subsidiaries, the company delivers power to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the poles, lines, substations and other infrastructure that support electric service.

FirstEnergy’s distribution operations serve customers across parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia and Maryland. Its utility companies include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Jersey Central Power & Light, Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, West Penn Power, Mon Power and The Potomac Edison Company.