New York State Teachers Retirement System Has $19.29 Million Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

New York State Teachers Retirement System cut its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 526,257 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 34,655 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.09% of FirstEnergy worth $19,293,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.5% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,648,832 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $75,615,000 after purchasing an additional 86,132 shares during the period. Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 10,066 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 923 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 26.5% during the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 9,044 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 1,892 shares during the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 51.0% during the 1st quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 618,302 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $28,355,000 after buying an additional 208,803 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudential PLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter worth about $577,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on FE. StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $39.63.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE stock traded up $0.10 on Tuesday, reaching $38.47. The company had a trading volume of 2,461,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,505,179. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.18 and a 1 year high of $41.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company's fifty day moving average is $37.56 and its 200 day moving average is $36.84. The company has a market cap of $22.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 93.92%.

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.