FirstEnergy Corporation $FE Shares Bought by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management increased its FirstEnergy stake by 157.2% in the third quarter, purchasing 778,617 additional shares and bringing its holdings to 1.27 million shares worth approximately $55.2 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 89.41% of FE.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with six Buy and five Hold ratings producing a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $51.27, despite target-price reductions from Morgan Stanley and Barclays.
• FirstEnergy’s shares opened at $46.24, while the company reported quarterly revenue of $3.68 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.50 per share. It also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.465 per share, representing a 4.0% annualized yield.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 157.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,273,916 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 778,617 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned about 0.22% of FirstEnergy worth $55,199,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Energy Income Partners LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth about $97,602,000. Electron Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 103.2% during the first quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,991,914 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $151,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,519,737 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at $62,161,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the first quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $508,158,000 after acquiring an additional 694,449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 5,396,317 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $273,377,000 after purchasing an additional 573,731 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on FE. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, September 18th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, September 14th. Barclays lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $54.00 to $49.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 12th. New Street Research set a $47.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded FirstEnergy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, September 19th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $51.27.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE stock opened at $46.24 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $45.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $47.09. The stock has a market cap of $26.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.45. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $42.67 and a 1 year high of $52.34.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 6.86%. The company had revenue of $3.68 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.52 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, December 1st. Investors of record on Friday, November 6th will be given a dividend of $0.4650 per share. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, November 6th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.94%.

FirstEnergy Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. is an electric utility holding company focused primarily on regulated electricity transmission and distribution. Through its operating companies, the company delivers electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers and maintains the infrastructure needed to support reliable service.

FirstEnergy's utility subsidiaries include Ohio Edison, The Illuminating Company and Toledo Edison in Ohio; Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power and West Penn Power in Pennsylvania; Jersey Central Power & Light in New Jersey; and Mon Power and Potomac Edison in West Virginia and Maryland.

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