FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target Raised to $35.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target raised by Bank of America from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an underperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on FE. Scotiabank decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a sector perform rating for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a buy rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. StockNews.com lowered FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $38.58 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.20 billion, a PE ratio of 21.32 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $41.15. The business has a 50-day moving average of $37.81 and a 200 day moving average of $37.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.41%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.61%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,498,567,000 after purchasing an additional 18,853,983 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $540,996,000 after purchasing an additional 3,756,228 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 53.9% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,307,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $121,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,034 shares during the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,637,000 after purchasing an additional 590,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,950,000 after purchasing an additional 407,350 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.