FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Purchased by Jump Financial LLC

Jump Financial LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 79.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,824 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,778 shares during the quarter. Jump Financial LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $789,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after purchasing an additional 508,570 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $656,309,000 after buying an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $497,009,000 after buying an additional 329,049 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position 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 acquiring an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $153,081,000 after acquiring an additional 34,151 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday. 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.75.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, hitting $42.36. The stock had a trading volume of 5,278,317 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,552,482. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.67.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. On average, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.