Argus Upgrades FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) to Buy

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) was upgraded by stock analysts at Argus from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The brokerage currently has a $50.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock. Argus’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 13.64% from the company’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on FE. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $44.18.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $44.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.32 billion, a PE ratio of 25.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $42.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.00. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting 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 net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.47 EPS. Analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of FE. Sachetta LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 36.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,015,000 after buying an additional 264 shares during the period. Richardson Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. Richardson Financial Services Inc. now owns 4,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $193,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Marcum Wealth LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $308,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the period. 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.