FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Downgraded to “Peer Perform” Rating by Wolfe Research

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) was downgraded by equities researchers at Wolfe Research from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report issued on Thursday,Finviz reports.

Several other equities analysts have also issued reports on FE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $39.43 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $40.44 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $35.41 and a one year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the third 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,081,000 after buying an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,896,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,570,000 after purchasing an additional 104,253 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,622,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,960,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.