Brokerages Set FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) PT at $46.27

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) has recently garnered a consensus rating of “Hold” from the thirteen rating firms currently following the stock, according to MarketBeat. Within this group of analysts, one has issued a sell recommendation, seven have categorized the stock as a hold, and five have given it a buy rating. The average target price set by analysts over the past year stands at $46.27.

Various brokerages have shared their insights on FirstEnergy. For instance, Scotiabank upgraded their rating from “sector perform” to “sector outperform” and raised their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 on December 12th. Conversely, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” to a “hold” on October 31st. Additionally, Wolfe Research adjusted their rating from “outperform” to “peer perform” on January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on FirstEnergy on October 14th, giving it a “hold” rating with a price target of $46.00. Furthermore, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target from $45.00 to $46.00 with a “neutral” rating as noted in their report on October 18th.

Institutional Investments in FirstEnergy

Several hedge funds have recently made adjustments to their positions in FirstEnergy. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, now owning 9,318,905 shares valued at approximately $371,911,000 after adding 220,433 shares. In the third quarter, Franklin Resources Inc. also increased its position by 1.0%, holding 3,546,001 shares valued at $153,081,000 after acquiring an additional 34,151 shares. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake by 3.2% in the fourth quarter, now owning 3,402,070 shares worth $135,334,000 following the purchase of 105,408 additional shares. UBS Asset Management added 7.9% to its holdings in the third quarter, acquiring a total of 2,346,263 shares valued at $104,057,000. Finally, Amundi made a significant increase of 103.8% in the fourth quarter, resulting in ownership of 1,843,964 shares valued at $73,334,000. Overall, institutional investors control approximately 89.41% of FirstEnergy's shares.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

The stock of FirstEnergy opened at $40.17 on Monday, leading to a market capitalization of $23.15 billion. The company records a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 25.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.99, and a beta of 0.52. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $40.00, while the 200-day simple moving average stands at $41.83. The company maintains a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46, and a current ratio of 0.56. Over the past year, FirstEnergy’s stock has seen a low of $35.41 and a high of $44.97.

Dividends from FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy has also announced a quarterly dividend, set to be distributed on March 1st. Shareholders recorded as of February 7th will receive a dividend of $0.425, which equates to an annualized dividend of $1.70, translating to a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is also noted as February 7th, and the company’s dividend payout ratio is currently at 109.68%.

Overview of FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. provides essential electricity generation, transmission, and distribution services in the United States. The company operates through its Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments, owning a variety of energy generation facilities, including coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind, and solar power plants.

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