Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Decreases Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE – Get Rating) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 133,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,132 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,119,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 9,524.2% during the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,709,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,696,000 after purchasing an additional 2,681,540 shares during the last quarter. BlackRock Inc. grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 43,236,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,798,218,000 after purchasing an additional 2,215,694 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 105.3% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 4,084,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $169,874,000 after purchasing an additional 2,095,290 shares during the last quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 655.6% during the 4th quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 2,062,016 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $85,758,000 after purchasing an additional 1,789,128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2,375.4% during the 4th quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 759,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,584,000 after purchasing an additional 728,728 shares during the last quarter. 87.78% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.68 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $39.08 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.90. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.32 and a fifty-two week high of $48.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.67 billion, a PE ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.75.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE – Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.01. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 11.78% and a return on equity of 15.13%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 5th will be given a dividend of $0.39 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 4th. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.93%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 63.41%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on FE shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $44.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 28th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 27th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $49.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 21st. Finally, Credit Suisse Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, April 25th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $51.00 target price on the stock. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $45.25.

About FirstEnergy

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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, natural gas, wind, and solar power generating facilities.