BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC Cuts Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC decreased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 33.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 194,553 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 97,996 shares during the quarter. FirstEnergy makes up 0.8% of BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. BTG Pactual Asset Management US LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $7,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FE. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 2.6 %

FirstEnergy stock traded up $1.07 during trading on Friday, hitting $41.87. The company had a trading volume of 8,445,299 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,470,586. The stock has a market cap of $24.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. 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 Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.23 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $39.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.75.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. As a group, analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 104.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Scotiabank dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $45.17.

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.