Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Acquires 3,211 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 1.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 292,384 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,211 shares during the quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $12,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,572,000 after buying an additional 67,469 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% during the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after acquiring an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at about $596,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in FirstEnergy by 52.7% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,361,000 after purchasing an additional 30,309 shares during the period. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,618,000 after purchasing an additional 105,289 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. KeyCorp raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:FE opened at $41.57 on Thursday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $34.92 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $43.51 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.19. The stock has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.82, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.