Woodline Partners LP Takes $1.23 Million Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Woodline Partners LP bought a new stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 30,803 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,225,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,619,270,000 after buying an additional 508,570 shares during the period. Boston Partners increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $497,009,000 after purchasing an additional 329,049 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $371,911,000 after purchasing an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the 4th quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In related news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the business's 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 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on FE shares. Mizuho set a $43.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE traded down $0.02 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $41.68. The company had a trading volume of 676,021 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,692,914. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company's 50 day moving average price is $41.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.63. The stock has a market cap of $24.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is currently 94.68%.

FirstEnergy 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.