R Squared Ltd Invests $1.14 Million in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 28,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,141,000. FirstEnergy makes up approximately 1.1% of R Squared Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth $32,000. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE stock opened at $40.20 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $40.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.83. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $23.17 billion, a PE ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52. 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 (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.