Yaupon Capital Management LP Boosts Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Key Points

• Yaupon Capital Management LP increased its stake in FirstEnergy Corporation by 38.2%, purchasing an additional 129,395 shares in the first quarter, bringing its total holdings to approximately 468,512 shares worth $18.94 million.
• FirstEnergy reported earnings of $0.52 per share for the last quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, although revenue fell slightly short of estimates at $3.40 billion.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.445, yielding about 4.1%, with a payout ratio of 78.76% as of the latest filing.

Yaupon Capital Management LP lifted its position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 38.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 468,512 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 129,395 shares during the quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP owned about 0.08% of FirstEnergy worth $18,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FE. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 14.2% during the first quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 71,333 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,883,000 after acquiring an additional 8,879 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the first quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 9,983 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 366 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 9.0% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 17,759 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $718,000 after acquiring an additional 1,464 shares in the last quarter. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 29.7% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 7,684 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $311,000 after buying an additional 1,760 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on FE. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $46.00 price objective (down from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. UBS Group set a $44.00 price target on FirstEnergy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 24th. Mizuho lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays raised FirstEnergy from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $43.00 to $49.00 in a research note on Monday, August 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.31.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5%

NYSE:FE traded up $0.21 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $43.80. The company had a trading volume of 2,766,595 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,282,178. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.54 and a 200 day moving average of $41.30. The company has a market cap of $25.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.50. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $44.78.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 9.31%.The company had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.56 EPS. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2025 guidance at 2.400-2.600 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th were paid a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is 78.76%.

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.