International Assets Investment Management LLC Cuts Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 90.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 197,941 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $858,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Pensionfund Sabic lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 35,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 8,000 shares in the last quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 50.7% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $571,000 after purchasing an additional 4,830 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,897 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $433,000 after buying an additional 634 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.2% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,398,000 after buying an additional 30,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 33,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FE shares. Scotiabank upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.81 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.94 billion, a PE ratio of 25.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.70. 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 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. 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.