Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 321,911 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. trimmed its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 42.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 430,104 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 321,911 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.07% of FirstEnergy worth $17,385,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its stake in shares of 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, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $503,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This trade represents a 98.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE traded down $0.36 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $40.31. 3,850,510 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,859,478. 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 twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $23.27 billion, a PE ratio of 26.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.42%. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $48.00 price objective (up previously from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Company 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.