FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) is Soroban Capital Partners LP’s 8th Largest Position

Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 60.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,133,083 shares during the quarter. FirstEnergy comprises approximately 4.4% of Soroban Capital Partners LP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Soroban Capital Partners LP owned approximately 1.45% of FirstEnergy worth $331,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the period. Boston Partners raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after buying an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $497,009,000 after buying an additional 329,049 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,911,000 after buying an additional 220,433 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in FirstEnergy by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,606,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,257,000 after buying an additional 276,241 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on FE. Bank of America raised FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and raised their price target for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of FE stock opened at $42.67 on Monday. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $40.88 and a 200 day moving average of $40.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

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.