FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target Lowered to $48.00 at Morgan Stanley

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective reduced by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $39.80 on Thursday. FirstEnergy has a 52 week low of $36.81 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $39.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.37. The company has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.68, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Research analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.47%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after buying an additional 272 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $205,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

About FirstEnergy

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.