Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 62.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 13,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,352 shares during the period. Mount Yale Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised 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 in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.20 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $23.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $40.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.83. 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 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 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.