Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Buys 5,692 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,296,662 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,692 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.57% of FirstEnergy worth $146,207,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Sachetta LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 36.0% in the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,000 after purchasing an additional 246 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 4.4% in the 2nd quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $226,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 44,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,701,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Argus upgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $41.79 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $35.41 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $42.87 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.08 billion, a PE ratio of 26.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. 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.