Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. Acquires 4,109 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 7.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 59,143 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,109 shares during the quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,263,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 37,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,358,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.4% during the 1st quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 187,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,259,000 after purchasing an additional 54,990 shares during the last quarter. Lumbard & Kellner LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,418,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,572,000 after buying an additional 67,469 shares during the period. Finally, First Pacific Advisors LP grew its position in FirstEnergy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,481,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,623,000 after buying an additional 45,350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE stock opened at $43.92 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $25.28 billion, a PE ratio of 25.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $40.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.28. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $32.18 and a one year high of $44.07. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.71 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.87%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 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.