Van ECK Associates Corp Lowers Stake in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Van ECK Associates Corp lowered its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 32.5% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 238,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 114,608 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $11,337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $256,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at about $289,000. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 40.7% in the 1st quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 43,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,752,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in FirstEnergy by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 1,340 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on FE. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, August 21st. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Weiss Ratings downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, TD Cowen upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $53.00 in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.83.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $45.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $26.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.40, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 52 week low of $42.87 and a 52 week high of $52.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $47.86 and its 200 day moving average price is $48.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.86% and a return on equity of 10.51%. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.52 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a $0.465 dividend. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 98.94%.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid?Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.