PNC Financial Services Group Inc. Acquires 5,390 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 6.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 86,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,390 shares during the quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,839,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balanced Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the third quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 36.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.4% during the second quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,000 after buying an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.7% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $750,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 44,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,701,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target for the company in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $41.79 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $42.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $41.45. 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 Corp. has a 52 week low of $35.41 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

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.