M&T Bank Corp Raises Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

M&T Bank Corp raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 154,946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,250 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,164,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FE. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,000 after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $754,000. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 11.8% during the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,346 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,398,000 after purchasing an additional 30,769 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tyler Stone Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 94.4% during the 3rd quarter. Tyler Stone Wealth Management now owns 22,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,012,000 after purchasing an additional 11,081 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on FE. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $38.54 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company’s 50-day moving average is $39.98 and its 200 day moving average is $41.62.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. Research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 100.00%.

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.