Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Cuts Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC trimmed its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 297,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,575 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC owned about 0.05% of FirstEnergy worth $10,904,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 7.0% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,214,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,128,322,000 after acquiring an additional 4,443,050 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 31.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,996,000 after acquiring an additional 3,756,228 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,950,000 after acquiring an additional 407,350 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 2.7% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 11,526,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $460,739,000 after acquiring an additional 300,442 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 3.7% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,575,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,123,000 after acquiring an additional 306,503 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.7 %

FE opened at $38.01 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. The firm has a market cap of $21.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.00 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $32.18 and a 52 week high of $41.99. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $37.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $36.80.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.47%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 90.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. KeyCorp raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.63.

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.