Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Has $1.97 Million Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lowered its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 11.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 49,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 6,720 shares during the quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,198,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 56.0% in the 4th quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 48,759 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,933,000 after purchasing an additional 17,506 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% during the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,902,000 after buying an additional 14,129 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth $664,000. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 6,689.2% in the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 10,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 10,569 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FE shares. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE FE traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $43.15. The stock had a trading volume of 3,779,563 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,585,632. The company's 50 day moving average price is $40.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.68. 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 Corp. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The firm has a market cap of $24.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter 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. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's 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.