Investors Buy Large Volume of FirstEnergy Put Options (NYSE:FE)

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) saw unusually large options trading activity on Friday. Investors purchased 15,121 put options on the company. This represents an increase of approximately 430% compared to the average daily volume of 2,853 put options.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in FE. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 84,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,349 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 418.0% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 270,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,878,000 after purchasing an additional 218,020 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 42,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,716,000 after buying an additional 14,718 shares in the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 1,379.5% in the second quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 114,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,628,000 after buying an additional 107,176 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 218.6% in the second quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 62,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,506,000 after buying an additional 42,700 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. UBS Group reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Citigroup began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $53.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.75.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of FE opened at $47.33 on Friday. FirstEnergy has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $48.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $27.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $44.41.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.83 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.76 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.94 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 9.19%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 77.73%.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid‑Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.