HighTower Advisors LLC Has $6.16 Million Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

HighTower Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 154,920 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,938 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FE. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,057,000 after acquiring an additional 171,955 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at $1,154,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 14,129 shares during the period. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth $664,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.90 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $36.81 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.74, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS 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 business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.33.

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.