Bank of America Increases FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $35.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective lifted by Bank of America from $30.00 to $35.00 in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an underperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts also recently issued reports on FE. Scotiabank cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a buy rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $38.13 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.12. The company has a market cap of $21.94 billion, a PE ratio of 21.91 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. FirstEnergy has a 12-month low of $32.18 and a 12-month high of $41.15.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.21% and a net margin of 8.22%. The business had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. Analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.25%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. MGO One Seven LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 6,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 72,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.