Atria Investments Inc Trims Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Atria Investments Inc reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 14.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 17,259 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,821 shares during the quarter. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $765,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of 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 worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth $32,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the second quarter valued at about $38,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on FE shares. KeyCorp upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given 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 Trading Up 0.4 %

FE stock opened at $41.69 on Tuesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $35.41 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.38.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.