Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Makes New $12.20 Million Investment in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 306,640 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $12,198,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,057,000 after acquiring an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,154,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 30,309 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,267,000 after purchasing an additional 26,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 6,689.2% in the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 10,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 10,569 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.4 %

FE opened at $39.92 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.52. 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 one year low of $35.41 and a one year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.26%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. Scotiabank upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

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.