Smith Group Asset Management LLC Takes $318,000 Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 8,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $318,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $403,517,000 after purchasing an additional 457,231 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,622,544 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $71,960,000 after purchasing an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, National Pension Service lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 854,697 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $37,906,000 after purchasing an additional 17,462 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on FE shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a "hold" rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp cut their price target 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. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FE traded down $0.14 during trading on Thursday, reaching $39.53. The stock had a trading volume of 1,493,029 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,198,067. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. 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 business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.27 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.81. The stock has a market cap of $22.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.50, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors 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 yield of 4.30%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.