Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires 5,522 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 100,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,522 shares during the quarter. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,994,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Boston Partners increased its position in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during 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 during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during 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 during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,081,000 after acquiring an additional 34,151 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,402,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,334,000 after buying an additional 105,408 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,057,000 after buying an additional 171,955 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on FE shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE:FE opened at $39.62 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $39.95 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 104.71%.

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.