Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC Buys 2,401 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,009 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,401 shares during the quarter. Linden Thomas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,430,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of FE. Citigroup Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 218,439 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares during the period. Comerica Bank raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% during the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,703,000 after acquiring an additional 136,370 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 447.1% during the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,715,000 after acquiring an additional 304,000 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $38.18. 776,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,325,549. The stock has a market cap of $21.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.13 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $37.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.07. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $32.18 and a 12 month high of $41.17.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

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.