Morgan Stanley Cuts FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $50.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $50.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently commented on FE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE stock opened at $41.79 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a PEG ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.45. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 109.68%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,965,000 after buying an additional 694,313 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,517,000 after buying an additional 457,231 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $14,933,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,178.5% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 286,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,977,000 after buying an additional 264,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,423,000 after buying an additional 218,165 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.