Analysts Set FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Target Price at $46.08

Key Points

• FirstEnergy Corporation has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from analysts, with nine analysts rating it as such and six giving it a buy rating; the average price target among these brokers is $46.08.
• The company recently reported earnings of $0.52 per share, exceeding estimates, and revealed a quarterly dividend of $0.445 expected to yield 4.1% annually.
• Hedge funds hold approximately 89.41% of FirstEnergy's stock, indicating significant institutional interest in the company.

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the fifteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $46.3077.

FE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays raised FirstEnergy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the company from $43.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Monday. UBS Group set a $44.00 target price on FirstEnergy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $46.00 target price (down previously from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.4%

FE traded up $0.20 during trading on Friday, reaching $43.79. The company had a trading volume of 3,218,122 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,929,149. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $41.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.11. The company has a market cap of $25.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.61.

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 for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 9.31%.During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.56 EPS. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.400-2.600 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is 78.76%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.2% during the 1st quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 71,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,883,000 after buying an additional 8,879 shares during the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,983 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $403,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 9.0% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 17,759 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $718,000 after buying an additional 1,464 shares during the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $256,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 29.7% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 7,684 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $311,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.