FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp trimmed its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 132,974 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 7,519 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $4,875,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MGO One Seven LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4.7% in the third quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 6,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $220,000 after buying an additional 287 shares during the last quarter. Allworth Financial LP raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 9.3% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.2% during the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $977,000 after purchasing an additional 339 shares during the last quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 72,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,641,000 after purchasing an additional 341 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after purchasing an additional 361 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on FE. StockNews.com raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.56. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $40.42. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $37.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.23. The company has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The company’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.25%.

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.