Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Has $378,000 Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. increased its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,879 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,176 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $378,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 41.4% in the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 187,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,259,000 after acquiring an additional 54,990 shares during the period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $2,418,000. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,572,000 after purchasing an additional 67,469 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,481,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,623,000 after buying an additional 45,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CCM Investment Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $9,867,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $44.00 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $25.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.29, a PEG ratio of 2.32 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 Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $42.50 and a 200 day moving average of $40.00.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, hitting the consensus estimate of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The company had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.47 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.86%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 97.70%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Barclays lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $44.18.

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.