Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE)

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) in a report issued on Monday, Briefing.com reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 7.70% from the stock’s previous close.

FE has been the subject of a number of other research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.82.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.9 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $42.71 on Monday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $43.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market cap of $24.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.50. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $34.73 and a twelve month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Creative Planning increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 38,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 1,813 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3,815.2% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after acquiring an additional 23,044 shares during the period. CCM Investment Advisers LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. CCM Investment Advisers LLC now owns 294,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,073,000 after acquiring an additional 4,604 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth approximately $72,000. 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.