Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Invests $121,000 in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm acquired 2,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $121,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FE. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% in the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Sachetta LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 36.0% during the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UMB Bank n.a. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 48.4% during the third quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 997 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $42.63 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $42.78 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.49. 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 cap of $24.57 billion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $35.41 and a 1 year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.91.

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.