FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Cut to “Hold” at Seaport Res Ptn

Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, Zacks.com reports. Seaport Res Ptn also issued estimates for FirstEnergy’s FY2024 earnings at $2.67 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $2.90 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $3.11 EPS.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $41.73 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $43.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market cap of $24.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51. FirstEnergy has a 1 year low of $34.92 and a 1 year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.07%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $226,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.2% during the first quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $193,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.7% in the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 44,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.