Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Free Report) from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports.
A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FE. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.27.
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FirstEnergy Stock Performance
NYSE:FE traded down $0.41 on Thursday, hitting $39.02. The stock had a trading volume of 3,099,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,736,799. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $40.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.79. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $22.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52.
FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. The company's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.
FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 109.68%.
Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $104,057,000 after buying an additional 171,955 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,154,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,361,000 after acquiring an additional 30,309 shares during the period. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 16.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,267,000 after acquiring an additional 26,874 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About FirstEnergy
(
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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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