Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Purchases New Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 41,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,633,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares during the period. Amundi grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth about $30,069,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after purchasing an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $12,198,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.5 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.05 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.13. The firm has a market cap of $23.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. On average, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 104.71%.

About FirstEnergy

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.