FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Lifted to “Hold” at StockNews.com

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) was upgraded by StockNews.com from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report released on Monday.

FE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target for the company. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.7 %

FE traded up $0.65 during trading on Monday, reaching $38.78. 4,015,406 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,381,163. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $37.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a PE ratio of 22.29 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $32.18 and a one year high of $40.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Duality Advisers LP bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at $1,644,000. Citigroup Inc. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 218,439 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares in the last quarter. Comerica Bank boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 136,370 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.