Swiss National Bank Sells 47,200 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Swiss National Bank decreased its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,703,244 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 47,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $62,441,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FE. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $232,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 983,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,043,000 after purchasing an additional 4,119 shares during the period. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 59,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,164,000 after buying an additional 3,848 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth about $261,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $177,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $39.24 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $40.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.25.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.33%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.25%.

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.