FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Stock Rated “Moderate Buy” by Wall Street Analysts

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) has earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $52.58.

FE has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, September 14th. UBS Group increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FE. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 10.5% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 16,268 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $773,000 after buying an additional 1,550 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.7% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,134,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $101,479,000 after buying an additional 152,346 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 129.6% during the second quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after buying an additional 31,591 shares during the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in FirstEnergy by 3.2% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,014,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,207,000 after acquiring an additional 31,445 shares during the period. Finally, Engineers Gate Manager LP boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 612.9% during the 2nd quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 93,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,441,000 after acquiring an additional 80,308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $43.38 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. The firm has a market cap of $25.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $46.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.52. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $42.67 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.52 EPS. On average, analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a $0.4650 dividend. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.94%.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. is an electric utility holding company focused primarily on regulated electricity transmission and distribution. Through its operating companies, the company delivers electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the infrastructure needed to support reliable service.

FirstEnergy’s utility subsidiaries include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison in Ohio; Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power and West Penn Power in Pennsylvania; Jersey Central Power & Light in New Jersey; and Mon Power and Potomac Edison in West Virginia and Maryland.