Xponance Inc. Lowers Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Xponance Inc. lowered its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,589 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,456,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Citigroup Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 27.3% in 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. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 7.6% in 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 raised its position in FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% in 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 raised its position in FirstEnergy by 2.4% in 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 raised its position in FirstEnergy by 447.1% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FE opened at $38.21 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $37.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $37.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $41.17.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.45%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FE shares. StockNews.com cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.33.

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.