FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Trexquant Investment LP

Trexquant Investment LP decreased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 61.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 117,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 183,367 shares during the quarter. Trexquant Investment LP’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $4,667,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after buying an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 103.8% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,069,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after purchasing an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $497,009,000 after purchasing an additional 329,049 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on FE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $39.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $39.97 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.00. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.81 and a 12-month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.52%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 104.71%.

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.