New England Asset Management Inc. Increases Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

New England Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 129,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,660 shares during the period. New England Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $5,754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FE. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after acquiring an additional 30,309 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth about $596,000. Capital International Inc. CA lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 89.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,618,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the second quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 1,088,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,667,000 after purchasing an additional 24,512 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $41.69 on Tuesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a market cap 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 current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $43.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.38.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

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.