FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target Lowered to $48.00 at Morgan Stanley

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target cut by research analysts at Morgan Stanley from $52.00 to $48.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 20.80% from the stock’s current price.

FE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.4 %

FE traded up $0.18 on Thursday, reaching $39.74. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,497,621 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,085,988. The stock has a market cap of $22.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.93 and its 200 day moving average is $41.38.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Boston Partners boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $331,795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133,083 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $195,672,000 after acquiring an additional 1,232,040 shares in the last quarter. Amundi boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,334,000 after acquiring an additional 939,240 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 118.2% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,271,000 after acquiring an additional 888,800 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.