Guggenheim Issues Pessimistic Forecast for FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Stock Price

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price objective reduced by Guggenheim from $52.00 to $45.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 16.01% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the company. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.6 %

NYSE:FE opened at $38.79 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $36.01 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the period. Boston Partners boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after purchasing an additional 329,049 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,911,000 after purchasing an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. 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.