FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Vestcor Inc

Vestcor Inc lowered its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 742 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $650,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in FE. Apollon Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth $205,000. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth $202,000. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth $202,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 33.3% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 40,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,789,000 after purchasing an additional 10,073 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.7% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. 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 note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.79 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.67, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $39.91 and its 200-day moving average is $41.45.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.