Barclays Boosts FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $46.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Barclays from $40.00 to $46.00 in a report issued on Monday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.35% from the company’s current price.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on FE. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.09.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of FE traded down $0.61 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $42.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,891,613 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,956,017. The company’s 50-day moving average is $43.32 and its 200-day moving average is $40.42. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $34.18 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.63, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 57,619 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,112,000 after purchasing an additional 5,013 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 28.3% in the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 55,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,044,000 after purchasing an additional 12,308 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 982.1% in the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 61,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 56,145 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $593,000. Finally, New England Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,465,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.