Rhumbline Advisers Sells 50,671 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Rhumbline Advisers cut its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 941,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 50,671 shares during the quarter. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.16% of FirstEnergy worth $37,446,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Creative Planning increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.0% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 38,301 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,699,000 after buying an additional 1,813 shares in the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,924 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $263,000 after purchasing an additional 417 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in FirstEnergy by 2.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 55,234 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,450,000 after purchasing an additional 1,133 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 303.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,141 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $184,000 after purchasing an additional 3,115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $202,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FE. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp reduced their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a "sector perform" rating to a "sector outperform" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 2.3 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded up $0.96 on Friday, hitting $42.34. 7,878,474 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,680,280. The company has a fifty day moving average of $39.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.77. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.01 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $24.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.03 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

About FirstEnergy

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.