Raymond James & Associates Sells 27,985 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Raymond James & Associates trimmed its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 507,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 27,985 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates’ holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $22,529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 41.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 187,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,259,000 after purchasing an additional 54,990 shares in the last quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,572,000 after buying an additional 67,469 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,422,000 after buying an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 214.5% in the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 73,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,841,000 after acquiring an additional 50,176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diversify Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at approximately $929,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the topic of a number of recent 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 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE stock opened at $44.09 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $43.63 and a 200-day moving average of $40.86. The firm has a market cap of $25.39 billion, a PE ratio of 31.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.31 and a beta of 0.50. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $34.91 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 120.57%.

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.