Private Capital Management LLC Raises Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Private Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 15,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 700 shares during the quarter. Private Capital Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 4,445.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 219,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,732,000 after purchasing an additional 214,606 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 34.6% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 33,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after buying an additional 8,703 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.7% during the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after buying an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 8.0% in the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 852,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,691,000 after buying an additional 63,120 shares during the period. Finally, Eagle Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $211,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 10.1 %

Shares of FE opened at $38.68 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.01 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.09 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

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.