Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 43,961 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 17.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 204,736 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 43,961 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $9,080,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $51,572,000 after acquiring an additional 67,469 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $596,000. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,618,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on FE. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.9 %

FE traded down $0.38 on Thursday, hitting $40.84. The company had a trading volume of 3,430,631 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,953,131. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $43.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $23.54 billion, a PE ratio of 26.35, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company's revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is presently 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.