FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target Raised to $45.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

FE has been the subject of several other reports. Bank of America boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. StockNews.com raised FirstEnergy from a sell rating to a hold rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $40.92.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.8 %

FE opened at $43.44 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $38.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.51. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $43.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.53, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.49.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.70%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,498,567,000 after purchasing an additional 18,853,983 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,307,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $121,271,000 after acquiring an additional 1,158,034 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after acquiring an additional 590,815 shares during the period. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 63.4% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,328,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,295,000 after acquiring an additional 515,458 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at $12,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.