Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Trims Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 169,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 34,996 shares during the quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 34.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 33,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after purchasing an additional 8,703 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 31,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,387,000 after acquiring an additional 1,107 shares during the last quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 10,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 1,324 shares during the last quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $229,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FE. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. KeyCorp cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $38.79 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.75. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.01 and a 12-month high of $44.97. 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 (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 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.