UPDATE: Jefferies Upgrades FirstEnergy on Valuation

In a report published Tuesday, Jefferies analyst Paul B. Fremont upgraded the rating on

from Underperform to Hold, and raised the price target from $33.50 to $36.50. In the report, Jefferies noted, “We are upgrading FirstEnergy to Hold from Underperform based on valuation. The stock has underperformed the UTY by 11.8% since we downgraded the stock in January. Moody's concerns regarding FE competitive businesses have been resolved with the company raising $1.5 billion in proceeds from the Harrison asset transfer proceeding and the sale of hydro assets.” FirstEnergy Corp. closed on Monday at $36.59.