Wall Street Zen Upgrades FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) to Hold

by · The Markets Daily

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE – Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a note issued to investors on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Barclays reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 11th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.58.

View Our Latest Research Report on FE

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.1%

FE opened at $45.23 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.91. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $43.00 and a 1-year high of $52.34. The stock has a market cap of $26.17 billion, a PE ratio of 24.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.62 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The firm had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 10.51%. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of FE. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 129.6% in the 2nd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 55,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,660,000 after purchasing an additional 31,591 shares during the period. National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.2% during the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 1,014,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,207,000 after purchasing an additional 31,445 shares during the period. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 612.9% during the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 93,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,441,000 after purchasing an additional 80,308 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 54.0% in the second quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 15,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $737,000 after buying an additional 5,440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.4% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 35,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,676,000 after buying an additional 1,803 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

(Get Free Report)

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is an electric utility holding company focused on the transmission and distribution of electricity. Through its regulated operating companies, the company delivers power to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the local infrastructure needed to support reliable electric service.

FirstEnergy’s utility operations include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, West Penn Power, Jersey Central Power & Light and Mon Power, among others.

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