FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Shares Up 2.1% – Time to Buy?

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)’s stock price traded up 2.1% during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $40.27 and last traded at $40.28. 1,678,769 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 47% from the average session volume of 3,166,181 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.45.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.43%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FE. Covestor Ltd grew its position in FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. 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.