Analysts Set FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Target Price at $46.00

Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.00.

A number of brokerages have commented on FE. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $48.00 price objective (up from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $503,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. The trade was a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FE. Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 7,633 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd grew its position in FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the first quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 10,807 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $437,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 1.2% during the first quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 22,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $917,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE:FE opened at $40.12 on Friday. FirstEnergy has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $41.53 and its 200-day moving average is $40.59. The firm has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.44%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

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.