Argus Upgrades FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) to “Buy”

Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) from a hold rating to a buy rating in a report released on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has $50.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on FE. Scotiabank upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $44.18.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.1 %

FE opened at $44.03 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $42.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.06. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $32.18 and a one year high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $25.34 billion, a PE ratio of 25.30, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.70%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of FE. Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 74.6% during the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 1,270 shares during the last quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. BI Asset Management Fondsmaeglerselskab A S now owns 12,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $448,000 after buying an additional 2,458 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 95,378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,497,000 after buying an additional 16,018 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 46,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,719,000 after buying an additional 5,979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 64,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,367,000 after buying an additional 1,866 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.