FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,545,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 77,000 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $61,482,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $34,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE FE opened at $39.79 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 $22.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.47.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. Equities analysts predict 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 $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.