abrdn plc Increases Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

abrdn plc grew its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 8.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 852,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 63,120 shares during the quarter. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.15% of FirstEnergy worth $37,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $26,000. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,150.9% during the first quarter. FinTrust Capital Advisors LLC now owns 663 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% during the second quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 669 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 615 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, Sachetta LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 36.0% during the 2nd quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $39,000 after buying an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on FE. Bank of America raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "sector perform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of FE stock traded down $0.35 on Thursday, reaching $41.82. 4,016,402 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,940,874. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $34.92 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.51, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.09 billion, a PE ratio of 26.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.50. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $43.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.05.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

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.