FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $52.8333.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on FE shares. Barclays cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. 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. New Street Research set a $52.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $46.85 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $47.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $48.32. The company has a market cap of $27.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.92, a PEG ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.46. FirstEnergy has a 12 month low of $42.72 and a 12 month high of $52.34.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 6.86%.During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.74 earnings per share 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 given a $0.465 dividend. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FE. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth about $25,000. Axiom Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter valued at about $26,000. DV Equities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 507.9% in the 4th quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 148.0% in the 4th quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,376 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

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.