Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Purchases Shares of 5,042 FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 5,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $224,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% during the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, West Oak Capital LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $41.80 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $42.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.42. 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 $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51. 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 quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FE shares. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. 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. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.91.

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.