Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Lowers Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 15.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,368,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 247,652 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $54,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of FE opened at $40.05 on Friday. 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 cap of $23.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $39.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.13.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. As a group, analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.44%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.71%.

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.