FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) saw unusually large options trading on Monday. Stock traders purchased 10,922 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 1,035% compared to the average volume of 962 call options.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.33.
Check Out Our Latest Report on FirstEnergy
FirstEnergy Price Performance
FE traded down $0.31 on Thursday, reaching $38.23. The stock had a trading volume of 5,414,160 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,984,072. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $40.03 and a 200-day moving average of $41.68. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $36.81 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $22.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.
FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.
FirstEnergy Announces Dividend
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.
Institutional Inflows and Outflows
Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.7% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,263 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 10,511 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $229,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $183,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the period. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 55.2% in the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 11,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $508,000 after purchasing an additional 4,081 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
About FirstEnergy
(
Get Free Report)
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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