GSA Capital Partners LLP Buys New Shares in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 22,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,012,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 52.7% in the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $596,000. Capital International Inc. CA boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,618,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 1,088,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,667,000 after buying an additional 24,512 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $41.52 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $35.41 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 stock has a market cap of $23.93 billion, a PE ratio of 26.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $43.18 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.30.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly 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). 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 firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.09%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.