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

Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 4,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $202,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at about $32,000. Sachetta LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 36.0% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on FE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Barclays boosted their price target 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $41.51 on Monday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.36. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.92 billion, a P/E 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 (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.