Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after buying an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at $596,000. Capital International Inc. CA boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,618,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 1,088,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,667,000 after buying an additional 24,512 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.7 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $41.51 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $23.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $43.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.36.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.10%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of a number of research reports. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

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.