Zimmer Partners LP Has $195.67 Million Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Zimmer Partners LP lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 33.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,918,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,232,040 shares during the quarter. FirstEnergy makes up about 3.4% of Zimmer Partners LP's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest position. Zimmer Partners LP owned approximately 0.85% of FirstEnergy worth $195,672,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vident Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 17.4% during the fourth quarter. Vident Advisory LLC now owns 15,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $600,000 after purchasing an additional 2,239 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.2% during the fourth quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 8,340,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $331,795,000 after purchasing an additional 3,133,083 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.5% during the fourth quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,360 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $531,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694 shares during the period. Royal Bank of Canada grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.5% during the fourth quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,981,944 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $158,403,000 after purchasing an additional 206,000 shares during the period. Finally, Redwood Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $1,785,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on FE. Bank of America raised FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:FE opened at $42.82 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a PE ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.60.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect 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 given a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

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.

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