FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Earns Buy Rating from Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a buy rating and a $45.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. StockNews.com cut shares of FirstEnergy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $40.22.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $37.85 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $37.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $41.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.91 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 13.52%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 90.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,810,000 after purchasing an additional 218,439 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. Comerica Bank increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 136,370 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 447.1% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,715,000 after purchasing an additional 304,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.