Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires 68,111 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Toronto Dominion Bank grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 43.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 223,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 68,111 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $9,927,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of FE. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. West Oak Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth $38,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $40.27 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $42.13 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.59. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.