FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Lumbard & Kellner LLC

Lumbard & Kellner LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 65,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 427 shares during the period. Lumbard & Kellner LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.8% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,896,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,570,000 after purchasing an additional 104,253 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 204.3% during the second quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 11,864 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after purchasing an additional 7,965 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 339,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,990,000 after purchasing an additional 11,274 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 17.8% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 248,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,518,000 after purchasing an additional 37,581 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Advisory Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter valued at approximately $257,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FE. Barclays lifted their price objective 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. KeyCorp lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $41.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, June 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $43.60.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.5 %

FE stock opened at $43.69 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 0.51 and a quick ratio of 0.43. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $42.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $39.88. The firm has a market cap of $25.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.11, a PEG ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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 issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.89%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 97.70%.

FirstEnergy Profile

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.