FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Lord Abbett & CO. LLC

Lord Abbett & CO. LLC lessened its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,503,368 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 31,583 shares during the period. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC owned about 0.26% of FirstEnergy worth $59,804,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in FirstEnergy by 361.9% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 24,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 19,457 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $153,081,000 after acquiring an additional 34,151 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 33,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,479,000 after acquiring an additional 4,503 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,398,000 after purchasing an additional 30,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,897 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:FE traded down $0.04 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $42.84. The company had a trading volume of 1,762,062 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,561,532. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.61, a PEG 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. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $40.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.71.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for 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%. The firm's revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors 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 yield of 4.15%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

About FirstEnergy

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.