Bank of America Increases FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $35.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its target price lifted by Bank of America from $30.00 to $35.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an underperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

FE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a buy rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE opened at $38.13 on Tuesday. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $41.15. The stock has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $37.12.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 13.21%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 94.25%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. MGO One Seven LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.7% during the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 6,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 287 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $308,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.2% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $977,000 after buying an additional 339 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 72,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,641,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.