Empirical Finance LLC Sells 258 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Empirical Finance LLC decreased its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 17,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 258 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $715,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Quarry LP grew its position in FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 320 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Luken Investment Analytics LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.85. 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 company has a market capitalization of $22.95 billion, a PE ratio of 25.69, a PEG ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $36.01 and a 12 month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

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.