Pathstone Holdings LLC Purchases 768 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Pathstone Holdings LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 34,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 768 shares during the quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,533,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Sachetta LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 36.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.7% in 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 during the period. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 44,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,701,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $42.62 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $35.41 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.77 and its 200 day moving average is $41.50. 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 posted its 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 return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.