Swiss National Bank Has $62.44 Million Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Swiss National Bank decreased its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,703,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 47,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.30% of FirstEnergy worth $62,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 8.4% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 499,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,074,000 after buying an additional 38,520 shares during the last quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 24.2% during the 3rd quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 20,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 4,034 shares during the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $60,000. Strs Ohio grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 79,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after buying an additional 7,941 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd increased its position in FirstEnergy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 172,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,907,000 after buying an additional 2,227 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE FE opened at $39.24 on Monday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $40.42. The company has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

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

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.