Wexford Capital LP Purchases 49,737 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Wexford Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 320.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 65,237 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 49,737 shares during the period. Wexford Capital LP’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,893,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Stevens Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $504,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.5% in the third quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 181,825 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,064,000 after purchasing an additional 6,113 shares during the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 23.9% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 58,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,576,000 after purchasing an additional 11,220 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,531 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Argus upgraded 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, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.82.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of FE opened at $41.35 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.55 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The company has a market capitalization of $23.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.67, a PEG ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $35.41 and a 52 week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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%. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.