FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Analysts

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus recommendation of "Hold" from the twelve analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, seven have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.00.

FE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock traded up $0.15 on Wednesday, reaching $41.73. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,327,439 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,952,001. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $35.41 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $24.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.68, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business's fifty day moving average price is $43.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.39.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FE. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after purchasing an additional 9,773,785 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,965,000 after buying an additional 694,313 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $403,517,000 after buying an additional 457,231 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,933,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 1,178.5% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 286,824 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,977,000 after buying an additional 264,389 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.