Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Sells 1,196 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lowered its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 42,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,196 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,610,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,150.9% in the 1st quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 610 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on FE. Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. Bank of America raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.55.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $43.47 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $43.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.39. The stock has a market cap of $25.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.98, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $32.97 and a 12 month high of $44.97.

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

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.