Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC Lowers Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC decreased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 35.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 10,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,390 shares during the quarter. Longfellow Investment Management Co. LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $445,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the 2nd 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 in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth $596,000. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.1% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 854,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,906,000 after acquiring an additional 17,462 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.2 %

FE opened at $41.88 on Monday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $42.87 and a 200 day moving average of $41.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The firm has a market cap of $24.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.25 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS 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 company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.