FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Pacer Advisors Inc.

Pacer Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 22.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,357 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,909,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. United Asset Strategies Inc. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. United Asset Strategies Inc. now owns 46,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,849,000 after buying an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 91,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,624,000 after acquiring an additional 2,012 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 54,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 13,829 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $204,000 after purchasing an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stablepoint Partners LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 119,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,760,000 after purchasing an additional 1,901 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.73 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $35.41 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $22.90 billion, a PE ratio of 25.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $40.27 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.81.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.