National Pension Service Increases Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 854,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 17,462 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $37,906,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% during the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 615 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE opened at $41.57 on Thursday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $34.92 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.19. The stock has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a PE ratio of 26.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

About FirstEnergy

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.