Lord Abbett & CO. LLC Sells 45,793 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,534,951 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 45,793 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned 0.27% of FirstEnergy worth $68,075,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Balanced Wealth Group LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the third quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Sachetta LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 36.0% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.4% in the second quarter. Commonwealth Financial Services LLC now owns 5,869 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $226,000 after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.7% during the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.7% during the second quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 44,441 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,701,000 after acquiring an additional 310 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on FE. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded down $0.05 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $40.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,622,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,900,637. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $42.13 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.98, a PEG ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.51. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $35.41 and a 1-year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy's revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.