Russell Investments Group Ltd. Lowers Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. lowered its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 24.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 966,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 304,726 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.17% of FirstEnergy worth $38,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Quarry LP grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 7,290 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $287,000 after buying an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased 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. Guggenheim raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.2 %

FE stock traded up $0.50 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $40.59. 4,344,177 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,442,914. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.18, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $39.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.79.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. 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 4.39%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's 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.