Retirement Systems of Alabama Buys 273 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 114,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $4,373,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 38.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,498,567,000 after buying an additional 18,853,983 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 53.9% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,307,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $121,271,000 after purchasing an additional 1,158,034 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after purchasing an additional 590,815 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 63.4% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,328,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,295,000 after purchasing an additional 515,458 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $12,631,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $42.55.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $43.43 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.42 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $39.10. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $43.65. The company has a market capitalization of $24.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.47 EPS. Analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.70%.

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.