Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Raises Position in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 33.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 59,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,038 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,721,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $256,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at about $289,000. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 11,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,000 after buying an additional 732 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 40.7% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 43,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,752,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 6.8% during the 1st quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 21,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $856,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $44.75 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $45.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $44.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a current ratio of 0.75. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $48.20. The company has a market capitalization of $25.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.55 and a beta of 0.64.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.94 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 9.19%.FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.85 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 77.73%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on FE. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp lowered FirstEnergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised FirstEnergy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 28th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.75.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid?Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.