PFG Investments LLC Purchases New Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

PFG Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 16,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $627,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,498,567,000 after acquiring an additional 18,853,983 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 53.9% during the 4th 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. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 20.6% in the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after purchasing an additional 590,815 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,950,000 after purchasing an additional 407,350 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FE. Bank of America raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. StockNews.com raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of FE stock traded up $0.65 on Monday, reaching $38.78. 4,015,406 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,381,163. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $37.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.17. The company has a market capitalization of $22.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $32.18 and a 12-month high of $40.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.53 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.36 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.25%.

FirstEnergy 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.