FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Given New $48.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) had its price target decreased by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $48.00 in a report issued on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "overweight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price objective points to a potential upside of 22.99% from the company's current price.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on FE. Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.00.

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FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of FE stock traded down $0.53 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $39.03. 3,700,942 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,129,415. FirstEnergy has a 12-month low of $36.81 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company's 50-day moving average price is $39.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.26.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is 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.