Employees Retirement System of Texas Cuts Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Employees Retirement System of Texas lessened its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 14.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 13,390 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $32,783,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the fourth 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. Boston Partners grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after buying an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after acquiring an additional 329,049 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after acquiring an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,081,000 after acquiring an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE stock opened at $39.38 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 104.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.