Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $365,000 Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 7.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 9,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $365,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FE. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 2.4 %

Shares of FE opened at $39.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.42, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $36.81 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.89 and a 200-day moving average of $41.18.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.52%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 104.71%.

FirstEnergy 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.