FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• FirstEnergy Corporation has been given an average rating of "Moderate Buy" by sixteen brokerages, with an equal split of buy and hold recommendations.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, representing an annualized yield of 3.8%.
• Institutional investors hold 89.41% of FirstEnergy's stock, with significant increases in holdings from firms like Federated Hermes and Boston Partners in recent quarters.

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) has received an average rating of "Moderate Buy" from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $46.7692.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Tuesday. They issued a "buy" rating and a $53.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group set a $44.00 target price on shares of FirstEnergy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays upgraded FirstEnergy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $43.00 to $49.00 in a research report on Monday, August 25th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Federated Hermes Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy by 198.1% in the second quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,888,967 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $277,350,000 after purchasing an additional 4,578,375 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.9% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,962,859 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $767,952,000 after buying an additional 2,459,779 shares in the last quarter. Wealthquest Corp bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter worth about $53,169,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.3% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 82.2% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,326,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,418,000 after buying an additional 598,732 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $46.92 on Friday. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $47.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.61. The company has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $44.09 and a 200 day moving average of $42.10.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 9.31%.During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.56 earnings per share. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.400-2.600 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is presently 78.76%.

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.

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