Teza Capital Management LLC Decreases Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Teza Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 45.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 39,463 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 33,492 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,570,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FirstEnergy news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the company’s 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 owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $42.67 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid 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 of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim upped 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. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

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.