FirstEnergy’s (FE) Overweight Rating Reiterated at Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley reissued their overweight rating on shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) in a report published on Thursday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $48.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their previous price objective of $47.00.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FE. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE FE opened at $41.97 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $24.22 billion, a PE ratio of 27.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $41.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.68%.

Insider Transactions at FirstEnergy

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $516,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FE. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 133,614.8% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,310,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,394,000 after buying an additional 2,308,864 shares during the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,169,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% in the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $195,672,000 after buying an additional 1,232,040 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.