Analysts Set FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Price Target at $46.27

Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twelve brokerages that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $46.27.

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Barclays raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sachetta LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 2.6 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $38.75 on Thursday. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $40.74 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $22.33 billion, a PE ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.52.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 109.68%.

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.