FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target Lowered to $50.00 at Morgan Stanley

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target decreased by Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $50.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the stock. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $41.80 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $24.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $35.41 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $42.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. TD Private Client Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.6% during the third quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 10,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $486,000 after acquiring an additional 382 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 43.7% during the third quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 223,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,927,000 after acquiring an additional 68,111 shares during the period. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter valued at approximately $2,050,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $267,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,267,000 after buying an additional 26,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.