Everence Capital Management Inc. Buys Shares of 9,530 FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 9,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $423,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 1,150.9% in the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% in the 2nd 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 stake in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the first quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Argus upgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, September 30th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of FE opened at $43.69 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $25.14 billion, a PE ratio of 25.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.50. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $43.56 and its 200-day moving average is $40.80. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $34.73 and a 12 month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 previous year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 97.70%.

About FirstEnergy

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.