Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. Sells 43,961 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 17.7% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 204,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 43,961 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $9,080,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the first quarter. Lord Abbett & CO. LLC now owns 1,335,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,572,000 after acquiring an additional 67,469 shares during the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares during the period. Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth $596,000. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 89.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 223,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,618,000 after acquiring an additional 105,289 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Barclays boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. KeyCorp upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $41.23 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $43.31 and its 200 day moving average is $41.31. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $35.41 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The stock has a market cap of $23.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.60, a PEG ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results 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). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

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.