Scotiabank Trims FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Target Price to $40.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its target price reduced by Scotiabank from $41.00 to $40.00 in a research note released on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a sector perform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also recently weighed in on FE. StockNews.com cut shares of FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a buy rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $38.30 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $22.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.08.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 13.52%. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 90.61%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.5% in the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 55,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,125,000 after buying an additional 800 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the first quarter worth $98,000. V Square Quantitative Management LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 38.6% in the first quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 7,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after buying an additional 2,114 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the first quarter worth about $356,000. Finally, Spire Wealth Management raised its position in FirstEnergy by 12.3% in the first quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 3,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,000 after acquiring an additional 397 shares in the last quarter. 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.