Rafferty Asset Management LLC Trims Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Rafferty Asset Management LLC reduced its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 57,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,467 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,291,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its position in 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 acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 2.7% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after acquiring an additional 329,049 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after acquiring an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its position in FirstEnergy by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,606,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,257,000 after acquiring an additional 276,241 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $42.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $40.97 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. 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.