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

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 306,640 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $12,198,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned about 0.05% of FirstEnergy at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,965,000 after purchasing an additional 694,313 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $403,517,000 after buying an additional 457,231 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,933,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 4,445.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 219,434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,732,000 after acquiring an additional 214,606 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,725,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $104,288,000 after acquiring an additional 193,540 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on FE shares. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and upped their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE FE traded down $0.16 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $39.92. The company had a trading volume of 4,082,352 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,295,186. The company has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.52. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $40.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.76. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $35.41 and a 1-year 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 - Get Free Report) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. FirstEnergy's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.88 EPS. On average, analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

About FirstEnergy

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.