Boston Partners Cuts Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Boston Partners reduced its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 12.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,299,149 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,328,031 shares during the quarter. Boston Partners owned about 1.62% of FirstEnergy worth $340,915,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $540,996,000 after acquiring an additional 3,756,228 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 3.1% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $463,950,000 after acquiring an additional 407,350 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP grew its position in FirstEnergy by 447.1% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,715,000 after acquiring an additional 304,000 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,848,344 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $324,380,000 after purchasing an additional 272,478 shares during the period. Finally, Citigroup Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $34,810,000 after purchasing an additional 218,439 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Bank of America boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a "sector perform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised FirstEnergy from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of FE traded up $0.10 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $39.94. The stock had a trading volume of 2,055,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,732,609. The company has a market cap of $22.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.95 and a beta of 0.48. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $38.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $37.38. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $40.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 8.22%. FirstEnergy's revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. 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 (DPR) is 97.70%.

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.