R Squared Ltd Has $690,000 Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)

Key Points

• R Squared Ltd reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corporation by 40.5%, leaving it with 17,060 shares, making FirstEnergy its 27th largest holding.
• FirstEnergy's quarterly earnings topped expectations, reporting $0.52 EPS against a consensus estimate of $0.50, though revenue fell slightly short of forecast at $3.40 billion.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, representing a 4.1% yield and a dividend payout ratio of 78.76%.

R Squared Ltd decreased its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 40.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 17,060 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 11,634 shares during the period. FirstEnergy accounts for approximately 0.7% of R Squared Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. R Squared Ltd's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 60.2% in the fourth quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $331,795,000 after acquiring an additional 3,133,083 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 133,614.8% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 2,310,592 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,394,000 after purchasing an additional 2,308,864 shares during the period. Wealthquest Corp acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter valued at about $53,169,000. Zimmer Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $195,672,000 after purchasing an additional 1,232,040 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 118.2% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $65,271,000 after purchasing an additional 888,800 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $46.00 price target (down previously from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group set a $44.00 target price on FirstEnergy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.08.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.5%

FE traded up $0.64 on Monday, reaching $43.83. 4,202,400 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,026,771. The company has a market cap of $25.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.39, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corporation 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 1.68, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $40.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.67.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 9.31%. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 78.76%.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This trade represents a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, 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 value of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,299,514.57. This trade represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company 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.