FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV

Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 39,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 896 shares during the quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,512,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FE. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 68,155,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,498,567,000 after buying an additional 18,853,983 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 20.6% in the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,637,000 after buying an additional 590,815 shares in the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 63.4% in the first quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,328,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,295,000 after buying an additional 515,458 shares in the last quarter. Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at $12,631,000. Finally, Norden Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2,741.7% in the first quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 295,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,429,000 after buying an additional 285,522 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. KeyCorp upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $44.18.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.9 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $43.65 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.10. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $32.18 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The stock has a market cap of $25.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.47 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.