FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Purchased by Mariner LLC

Mariner LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 16.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 95,039 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 13,196 shares during the quarter. Mariner LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,781,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Boston Partners raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Amundi grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 118.2% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,271,000 after acquiring an additional 888,800 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,069,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:FE traded up $0.09 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $42.37. 3,169,477 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,553,189. 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 of $40.16 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.43 billion, a PE ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have commented on FE. UBS Group upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.58.

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.