Andra AP fonden Increases Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Andra AP fonden boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 35.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 77,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,100 shares during the quarter. Andra AP fonden’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after buying an additional 9,773,785 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,423,000 after acquiring an additional 218,165 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,930,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $344,908,000 after acquiring an additional 82,482 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP grew its position in FirstEnergy by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,557,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $136,152,000 after acquiring an additional 69,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 20.6% in the fourth 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 period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FE. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $44.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The company has a market cap of $25.36 billion, a PE ratio of 25.33, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $32.18 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $39.68.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. Analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.70%.

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.