abrdn plc Has $29.88 Million Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

abrdn plc raised its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 815,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,139 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $29,879,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 327.3% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 792 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FE opened at $38.21 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $37.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $37.05. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $32.18 and a 52-week high of $41.17.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 90.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned 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 $40.33.

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.