FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Upgraded to “Hold” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com upgraded shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Monday morning.

Several other equities analysts have also commented on the company. Scotiabank reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Bank of America upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an underperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a buy rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $38.70 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $37.90 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.24 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $32.18 and a one year high of $40.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 8.22%. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.39%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 94.25%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of FE. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,498,567,000 after purchasing an additional 18,853,983 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,996,000 after acquiring an additional 3,756,228 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 53.9% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,307,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $121,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,034 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after acquiring an additional 590,815 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,950,000 after acquiring an additional 407,350 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is 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.