California Public Employees Retirement System Buys 22,442 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

California Public Employees Retirement System raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,533,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,442 shares during the period. California Public Employees Retirement System’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $100,765,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE FE opened at $40.43 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.09. The stock has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $36.81 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. On average, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

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.