International Assets Investment Management LLC Decreases Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

International Assets Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 90.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 21,493 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 197,941 shares during the quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $858,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FE. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 23,189 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $887,000 after acquiring an additional 911 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth about $596,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,062 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Choreo LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $430,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a "hold" rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 2.6 %

NYSE FE traded down $1.02 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $38.75. The company's stock had a trading volume of 4,248,442 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,622,407. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $40.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.70. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $35.41 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.00, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.39%. FirstEnergy's payout ratio 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.