FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $49.0833.

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FE. Citigroup assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $53.00 price objective on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Barclays raised FirstEnergy from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $43.00 to $49.00 in a report on Monday, August 25th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.6% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 84,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 418.0% in the 2nd quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 270,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,878,000 after buying an additional 218,020 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 52.7% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,716,000 after buying an additional 14,718 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 84.7% during the 2nd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 52,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,103,000 after buying an additional 23,959 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its position in FirstEnergy by 33.8% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 425,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,145,000 after buying an additional 107,579 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE opened at $45.13 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $26.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.75. FirstEnergy has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $48.20. The company’s fifty day moving average is $46.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $43.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 22nd. The utilities provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 9.19% and a return on equity of 11.15%. The business had revenue of $4.15 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.94 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.85 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.500-2.560 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.73%.

About FirstEnergy

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.