Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio cut its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 5.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 197,806 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,324 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $7,869,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Covestor Ltd lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its stake 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 buying an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $48.00 price target (up from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 2.1%

Shares of NYSE:FE traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $41.21. 3,796,821 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,699,329. 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 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $23.78 billion, a PE ratio of 26.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $41.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.63.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released 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. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In other FirstEnergy news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,299,514.57. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.