Zacks Research Comments on FirstEnergy Corp.’s FY2024 Earnings (NYSE:FE)

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) – Zacks Research raised their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of FirstEnergy in a research report issued on Tuesday, April 23rd. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the utilities provider will post earnings of $2.66 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $2.63. The consensus estimate for FirstEnergy’s current full-year earnings is $2.68 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for FirstEnergy’s Q4 2025 earnings at $0.56 EPS and FY2025 earnings at $2.87 EPS.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.1 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $38.13 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.15. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $37.12.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.36 billion.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors raised its position in FirstEnergy by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,498,567,000 after acquiring an additional 18,853,983 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $540,996,000 after purchasing an additional 3,756,228 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 53.9% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,307,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $121,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,034 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 20.6% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after buying an additional 590,815 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 3.1% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,950,000 after buying an additional 407,350 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.61%.

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.