Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Makes New Investment in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 16,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $664,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FE. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Quarry LP raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 48.4% in the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $39.43 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.79. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio 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.