FirstEnergy Corporation $FE Stock Bought by Howard Capital Management LLC

Howard Capital Management LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 244.6% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 139,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,072 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,048,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Energy Income Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth about $97,602,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.2% in the first quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,991,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,519,737 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at about $62,161,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 157.2% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,273,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,199,000 after purchasing an additional 778,617 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $508,158,000 after purchasing an additional 694,449 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FE traded up $0.69 during trading on Friday, reaching $46.24. The stock had a trading volume of 4,470,025 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,526,471. FirstEnergy Corporation has a one year low of $42.67 and a one year high of $52.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a PE ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.43. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $45.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $47.09.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 6.86%. The business had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.51 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.52 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.4650 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 6th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 98.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FE. Barclays lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $54.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 12th. Mizuho set a $47.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, September 19th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $51.27.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. is an electric utility holding company focused primarily on regulated electricity transmission and distribution. Through its operating companies, the company delivers electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the infrastructure needed to support reliable service.

FirstEnergy’s utility subsidiaries include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison in Ohio; Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power and West Penn Power in Pennsylvania; Jersey Central Power & Light in New Jersey; and Mon Power and Potomac Edison in West Virginia and Maryland.