FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Purchased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 58.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,248,706 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 460,522 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned approximately 0.22% of FirstEnergy worth $49,597,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 last quarter. Boston Partners lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.7% in the fourth 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% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE stock traded down $0.43 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $42.64. The stock had a trading volume of 1,434,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,552,527. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company's 50 day moving average price is $40.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.69. The stock has a market cap of $24.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 94.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.00.

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.