Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Trims Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lessened its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 87,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,509 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 381,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,163,000 after acquiring an additional 50,363 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 11.0% during the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $262,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the period. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $6,668,000. Prudential PLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 13.0% in the 4th quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 32,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares during the period. Finally, Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 57.6% in the fourth quarter. Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. now owns 45,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,801,000 after buying an additional 16,547 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $38.75 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $39.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.95. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.35 billion, a PE ratio of 25.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.59%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.15.

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.