FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Free Report) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $45.00 price objective on the utilities provider's stock.

FE has been the subject of several other reports. KeyCorp lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $40.22.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE traded down $0.62 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $37.85. 2,922,940 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,496,741. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91 and a beta of 0.48. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $37.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.99.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.61%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FE. CVA Family Office LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 72.2% during the 1st quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 1,085 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its position in FirstEnergy by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 90,867 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,509,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the last quarter. Rise Advisors LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 36.3% during the 1st quarter. Rise Advisors LLC now owns 1,358 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter worth $114,000. 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.