New York State Teachers Retirement System Trims Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

New York State Teachers Retirement System lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 9.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 434,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 43,453 shares during the quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of FirstEnergy worth $19,260,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.3% during the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after acquiring an additional 9,773,785 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,965,000 after purchasing an additional 694,313 shares during the last quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 63.4% during the 1st quarter. UniSuper Management Pty Ltd now owns 1,328,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,295,000 after purchasing an additional 515,458 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $403,517,000 after buying an additional 457,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $14,933,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.2 %

FE opened at $41.73 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $34.92 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $43.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company has a market cap of $24.05 billion, a PE ratio of 26.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.50.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 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 4.07%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Barclays upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Scotiabank raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy 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.