FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Rating Increased to Hold at StockNews.com

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) was upgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on FE. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE stock opened at $38.34 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. FirstEnergy has a 12 month low of $32.18 and a 12 month high of $40.42. The firm has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.03 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $37.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.19.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted 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. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FE. Toews Corp ADV purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth $766,000. Xponance Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 69,589 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,379,000 after acquiring an additional 759 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 499,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,074,000 after acquiring an additional 38,520 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 20,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $708,000 after acquiring an additional 4,034 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Independent Advisor Alliance boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 262.7% during the 3rd quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance now owns 20,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $709,000 after acquiring an additional 15,015 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.