FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Raised to “Buy” at Argus

Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has $50.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on FE. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $44.18.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $44.00 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $42.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.43. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $25.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.70%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after buying an additional 9,773,785 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,423,000 after purchasing an additional 218,165 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,930,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $344,908,000 after purchasing an additional 82,482 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.0% during the second quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,557,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,152,000 after purchasing an additional 69,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after purchasing an additional 590,815 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.