Mizuho Securities USA LLC Sells 1,916,624 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC decreased its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 97.5% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 48,613 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,916,624 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of FE. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 10.3% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 9,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 881 shares in the last quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 34,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 768 shares in the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. Holding AG bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $590,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 6.6% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 86,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,839,000 after buying an additional 5,390 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 35.2% during the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 38,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,686,000 after buying an additional 9,895 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.3 %

FE opened at $39.03 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average price is $39.94 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.26. The company has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FE shares. Guggenheim cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on 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 cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

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.