Board of the Pension Protection Fund Invests $963,000 in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Board of the Pension Protection Fund acquired a new position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 24,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $963,000. FirstEnergy comprises about 1.1% of Board of the Pension Protection Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FE. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the second quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Quarry LP grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FE. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE opened at $39.16 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.57 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company’s 50-day moving average is $40.64 and its 200 day moving average is $41.75.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.