FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Upgraded by Scotiabank to “Sector Outperform” Rating

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) was upgraded by equities researchers at Scotiabank from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has a $50.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price objective of $45.00. Scotiabank’s price target would suggest a potential upside of 24.18% from the company’s current price.

FE has been the topic of several other reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.27 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $23.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.51. FirstEnergy has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $44.97. 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $42.13 and its 200-day moving average is $41.59.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the third quarter worth $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. West Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.