FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Stock Gets Price Target Cut from Barclays

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective reduced by Barclays from $54.00 to $49.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently commented on FE. Wall Street Zen raised FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, September 19th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Finally, Mizuho set a $47.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $51.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of FE opened at $45.40 on Monday. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $42.67 and a one year high of $52.34. The company has a market cap of $26.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $47.13.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 6.86%. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.52 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.4650 per share. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Energy Income Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at $97,602,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.2% during the 1st quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,991,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,737 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at $62,161,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 7.5% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $508,158,000 after acquiring an additional 694,449 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in FirstEnergy by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,396,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $273,377,000 after acquiring an additional 573,731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. is an electric utility holding company focused primarily on regulated electricity transmission and distribution. Through its operating companies, the company delivers electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the infrastructure needed to support reliable service.

FirstEnergy’s utility subsidiaries include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison in Ohio; Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power and West Penn Power in Pennsylvania; Jersey Central Power & Light in New Jersey; and Mon Power and Potomac Edison in West Virginia and Maryland.