Voya Investment Management LLC Trims Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Voya Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 160,072 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 10,238 shares during the period. Voya Investment Management LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,368,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the fourth 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 stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Mizuho set a $43.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE FE traded up $0.40 on Friday, hitting $43.15. 3,779,563 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,579,839. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.88 billion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $40.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.70. 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 (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly 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. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. FirstEnergy's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.