Morton Community Bank Increases Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Morton Community Bank raised its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 88,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,575 shares during the period. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,395,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 37,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,358,000 after purchasing an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 41.4% during the first 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 period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth $2,418,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in 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 lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.3% during the 4th 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 last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $43.50.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock traded down $0.28 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $44.19. 2,108,414 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,930,081. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $41.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.51. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $32.18 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $25.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.40, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.50. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.71 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.