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

Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $45.17.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. Scotiabank reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FE. Boston Partners grew its position in 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 buying an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% during the fourth quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $195,672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,040 shares during the period. Amundi raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 118.2% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $65,271,000 after purchasing an additional 888,800 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE FE opened at $41.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.99 and a 200-day simple moving average of $40.73. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.53 billion. Equities research analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

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.

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