FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Short Interest Update

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) saw a significant growth in short interest in February. As of February 15th, there was short interest totalling 14,210,000 shares, a growth of 25.9% from the January 31st total of 11,290,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 3,330,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.3 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Gladstone Institutional Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter valued at approximately $229,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 25.4% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 4,131 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $183,000 after buying an additional 836 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 55.2% during the third quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 11,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $508,000 after buying an additional 4,081 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter valued at approximately $754,000. Finally, National Pension Service grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.1% during the third quarter. National Pension Service now owns 854,697 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $37,906,000 after buying an additional 17,462 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on FE shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $45.33.

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FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock traded up $0.27 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $38.54. The stock had a trading volume of 8,999,424 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,014,352. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $39.98 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.61. 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 has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.86, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.41%. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.