FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Upgraded by Wall Street Zen to “Hold” Rating

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Wall Street Zen reports.

FE has been the topic of several other reports. Barclays lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, September 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.58.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.1%

FE stock opened at $45.23 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $47.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $47.93. The company has a market capitalization of $26.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. FirstEnergy has a 52 week low of $43.00 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a $0.465 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $123,018,000. Energy Income Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at $97,602,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.2% in the 1st quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,991,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,737 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $62,161,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $508,158,000 after purchasing an additional 694,449 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is an electric utility holding company focused on the transmission and distribution of electricity. Through its regulated operating companies, the company delivers power to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the local infrastructure needed to support reliable electric service.

FirstEnergy’s utility operations include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, West Penn Power, Jersey Central Power & Light and Mon Power, among others.