FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Purchased by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.7% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after acquiring an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.0% during the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 7,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report 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 research note on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $39.41 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.18.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.52%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

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.