Principal Financial Group Inc. Buys 30,769 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 617,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,769 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $27,398,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the second quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 59,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,263,000 after buying an additional 4,109 shares in the last quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $207,000. HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 23.1% in the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 1,356 shares during the period. Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $45,000. Finally, Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.7% during the second quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 104,036 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,981,000 after purchasing an additional 7,475 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.89 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $22.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $41.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.63. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $44.97. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.