National Pension Service Raises Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

National Pension Service boosted its position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 3.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,014,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 31,445 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $48,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,641.7% during the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 30,356,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,443,136,000 after buying an additional 29,716,038 shares in the last quarter. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth about $123,018,000. BROOKFIELD Corp ON bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth about $110,332,000. Boston Partners lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,344,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $841,161,000 after acquiring an additional 2,185,400 shares during the period. Finally, Energy Income Partners LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $97,602,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $46.13 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $43.00 and a 1 year high of $52.34. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $47.60 and its 200 day moving average is $48.11. The stock has a market cap of $26.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.51 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 10.51%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.52 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.465 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 98.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on FE shares. Weiss Ratings cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, September 5th. Barclays dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $52.83.

FirstEnergy Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is an electric utility holding company focused on the transmission and distribution of electricity. Through its regulated operating companies, the company delivers power to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the local infrastructure needed to support reliable electric service.

FirstEnergy’s utility operations include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company, Toledo Edison, Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, West Penn Power, Jersey Central Power & Light and Mon Power, among others.