FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.

Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. reduced its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 12.0% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 93,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 12,644 shares during the quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,810,000 after purchasing an additional 218,439 shares during the period. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the period. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 136,370 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 607 shares during the period. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 447.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,715,000 after purchasing an additional 304,000 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.38.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $37.45 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $37.67 and a 200-day moving average of $36.92. The company has a market capitalization of $21.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.69 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $41.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 13.52%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.54%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

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.