Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 8,408 FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 8,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $325,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 37,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,358,000 after buying an additional 376 shares in the last quarter. Duality Advisers LP purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,644,000. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.4% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 187,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,259,000 after buying an additional 54,990 shares in the last quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,418,000. Finally, Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,572,000 after acquiring an additional 67,469 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.4 %

FE traded up $0.58 during trading on Monday, hitting $41.52. 3,114,590 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,955,675. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.58 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.08 and a 200 day moving average of $38.28. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $32.18 and a 12-month high of $41.59.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.53 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.29 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.36 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 97.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Barclays upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, June 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.55.

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.