Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Reduces Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC lessened its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.5% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 18,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,077 shares during the period. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,965,000 after purchasing an additional 694,313 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $403,517,000 after buying an additional 457,231 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,933,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $12,198,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 4,445.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 219,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,732,000 after acquiring an additional 214,606 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.1 %

FE opened at $40.31 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.50 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.79. The firm has a market cap of $23.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a PEG ratio of 1.99 and a beta of 0.52. 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 (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

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.