Q3 2023 EPS Estimates for FirstEnergy Corp. Decreased by Analyst (NYSE:FE)

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) – Zacks Research cut their Q3 2023 EPS estimates for shares of FirstEnergy in a research report issued on Tuesday, September 12th. Zacks Research analyst T. Sarawagi now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings per share of $0.87 for the quarter, down from their previous estimate of $0.90. The consensus estimate for FirstEnergy’s current full-year earnings is $2.53 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for FirstEnergy’s FY2023 earnings at $2.52 EPS and Q3 2024 earnings at $0.87 EPS.

Several other research analysts also recently commented on FE. Royal Bank of Canada reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $44.00 to $41.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, August 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $43.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, August 23rd. UBS Group downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday, August 7th. Finally, Barclays initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, August 23rd. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $37.00 target price for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $41.40.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 2.0 %

FE stock opened at $36.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.15 billion, a PE ratio of 46.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45. FirstEnergy has a 12 month low of $34.69 and a 12 month high of $43.31. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $37.35 and its 200 day moving average is $38.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a current ratio of 0.60 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.89 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 3.55% and a return on equity of 12.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,214,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,128,322,000 after purchasing an additional 4,443,050 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in FirstEnergy by 45.0% during the second quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 43,450,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,689,370,000 after purchasing an additional 13,484,251 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in FirstEnergy by 41.9% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 19,698,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $826,146,000 after purchasing an additional 5,820,540 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy by 13.2% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 11,744,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $470,512,000 after purchasing an additional 1,373,826 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,526,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,739,000 after purchasing an additional 300,442 shares during the last quarter. 82.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.39 per share. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 4th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 197.47%.

About FirstEnergy

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.