O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC Has $1.40 Million Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,419 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,400,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. HighTower Advisors LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 146,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,530,000 after acquiring an additional 7,215 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 17.5% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 61,697 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,736,000 after purchasing an additional 9,200 shares during the last quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario raised its position in FirstEnergy by 49.4% during the 3rd quarter. Investment Management Corp of Ontario now owns 18,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $805,000 after purchasing an additional 6,000 shares during the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 14.4% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 7,711 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $342,000 after buying an additional 970 shares during the period. Finally, IHT Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 12.7% in the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,531 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after buying an additional 1,187 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 4.1 %

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $39.38 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $36.81 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $41.00. 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 (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

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

FirstEnergy 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.