Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group Has $33,000 Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 68.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,993 shares during the period. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $33,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,648,832 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,615,000 after buying an additional 86,132 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 10,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 923 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 9,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 1,892 shares during the period. Allianz Asset Management GmbH grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 618,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,355,000 after acquiring an additional 208,803 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter valued at about $577,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have weighed in on FE. KeyCorp lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com cut FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $40.38.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $37.63 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.93. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $32.18 and a 52 week high of $41.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.