FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56, Briefing.com reports. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.61%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.47 earnings per share.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.1 %

NYSE FE traded down $0.46 on Friday, hitting $42.26. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,369,569 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,965,075. The firm has a market cap of $24.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.55, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.25 and its 200 day moving average is $38.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $43.65.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 97.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Barclays boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, June 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.92.

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.