FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Stake Lessened by California State Teachers Retirement System

California State Teachers Retirement System reduced its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 4.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 652,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 29,907 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.11% of FirstEnergy worth $25,974,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at $256,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,892 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $274,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 23.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,120 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $204,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 34.3% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 54,160 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,154,000 after acquiring an additional 13,829 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Group Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $318,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.6%

FE stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $41.24. 1,386,928 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,089,593. The business's 50 day moving average price is $41.50 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.63. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.80 billion, a PE ratio of 26.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

Insider Transactions at FirstEnergy

In other FirstEnergy news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total transaction of $503,640.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. The trade was a 98.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

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.