Morgan Stanley Cuts FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $49.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target cut by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $49.00 in a research report sent to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on FE. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, September 14th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.58.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $45.23 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $43.00 and a fifty-two week high of $52.34. The stock has a market cap of $26.17 billion, a PE ratio of 24.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $47.91.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.465 per share. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 98.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,018,000. Energy Income Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at $97,602,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.2% in the first quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,991,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,570,000 after buying an additional 1,519,737 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth $62,161,000. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.5% during the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $508,158,000 after buying an additional 694,449 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.