Guggenheim Cuts FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Price Target to $45.00

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) had its price target dropped by equities researchers at Guggenheim from $52.00 to $45.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 17.94% from the stock’s previous close.

FE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, KeyCorp cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.17.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.0 %

FE stock traded down $0.39 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $38.16. 2,938,660 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,517,266. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $40.09 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy has a 12-month low of $36.01 and a 12-month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. On average, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth about $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,057,000 after acquiring an additional 171,955 shares in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,154,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 14,129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth about $664,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

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.