California Public Employees Retirement System Grows Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

California Public Employees Retirement System increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,533,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 22,442 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.44% of FirstEnergy worth $100,765,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FE shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.00.

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FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock traded down $1.67 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.38. The stock had a trading volume of 6,631,562 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,341,961. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.41, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. 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 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The stock's fifty day moving average is $39.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.00.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.53 billion. As a group, analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

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