FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Position Lessened by Van ECK Associates Corp

Van ECK Associates Corp lessened its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 22.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 165,413 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 48,251 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $7,323,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital World Investors grew its position in FirstEnergy by 14.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after acquiring an additional 9,773,785 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $367,423,000 after purchasing an additional 218,165 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $403,517,000 after acquiring an additional 457,231 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,557,667 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $136,152,000 after purchasing an additional 69,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of 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 valued at $104,288,000 after buying an additional 193,540 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the subject of several research reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.2 %

FE stock traded up $0.49 during trading on Friday, reaching $41.72. 1,143,302 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,944,261. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $34.92 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $43.51 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.19. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.