Yaupon Capital Management LP Sells 85,868 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Yaupon Capital Management LP reduced its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 339,117 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 85,868 shares during the quarter. Yaupon Capital Management LP owned 0.06% of FirstEnergy worth $13,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Boston Partners boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,334,000 after buying an additional 939,240 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 118.2% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,271,000 after buying an additional 888,800 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $30,069,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on FE shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.75.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock traded up $0.08 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.36. 5,278,317 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,552,482. The firm's 50-day moving average is $40.20 and its 200 day moving average is $40.67. The company has a market capitalization of $24.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.33, a PEG 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 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.20%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. 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.