Wells Fargo & Company Cuts FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $41.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its target price cut by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $48.00 to $41.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 7.37% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities analysts also recently commented on FE. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.83.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE FE traded down $0.35 on Friday, hitting $38.19. 4,788,570 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,563,676. FirstEnergy has a 52 week low of $36.01 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $40.09 and a 200-day moving average of $41.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $22.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FE. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth about $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $1,154,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 14,129 shares during the period. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at $664,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.