FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Given Average Rating of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• FirstEnergy Corporation has received an average rating of "Hold" from fifteen brokerages, with eight analysts recommending a hold and seven recommending a buy, while the average price target is set at $46.30.
• The company's recent earnings report showed $0.52 EPS, surpassing estimates, and it announced a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.1%.
• Institutional investors and hedge funds own approximately 89.41% of FirstEnergy's stock, indicating strong institutional confidence in the company.

Shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fifteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.3077.

Several analysts recently commented on FE shares. UBS Group set a $44.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Barclays upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $43.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down previously from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $43.63 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. FirstEnergy has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.50. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $42.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.36.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.45 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.400-2.600 EPS. Analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is currently 78.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,988,086 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,696,940,000 after buying an additional 837,872 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,962,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $767,952,000 after buying an additional 2,459,779 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,091,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $524,764,000 after buying an additional 146,742 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in 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 buying an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 198.1% in the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,888,967 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $277,350,000 after buying an additional 4,578,375 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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