FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) saw a large decrease in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,300,000 shares, a decrease of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 10,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,820,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.7 days.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on FE. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus upgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $50,422,000 after acquiring an additional 42,484 shares in the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 52.7% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth $596,000. Capital International Inc. CA increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 89.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,618,000 after buying an additional 105,289 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the second quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 1,088,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,667,000 after acquiring an additional 24,512 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $41.69 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $43.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.38. The company has a market cap of $24.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. 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 has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.08%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

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.