Short Interest in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Grows By 7.8%

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) saw a significant growth in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,230,000 shares, a growth of 7.8% from the November 15th total of 10,420,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,850,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,965,000 after purchasing an additional 694,313 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $403,517,000 after acquiring an additional 457,231 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter worth about $14,933,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 1,178.5% during the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 286,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,977,000 after acquiring an additional 264,389 shares during the period. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 4,445.0% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 219,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,732,000 after acquiring an additional 214,606 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.2 %

FirstEnergy stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.84. 2,686,427 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,898,639. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company’s 50-day moving average is $42.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market cap of $22.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.27%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

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.