Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Reduces Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC trimmed its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,077 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Quarry LP increased 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 acquiring an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 48.4% during the 3rd quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $40.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.52. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $35.41 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $40.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly 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). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 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.