Cibc World Markets Corp Purchases 9,450 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Cibc World Markets Corp raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 82,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,450 shares during the period. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,911,000 after buying an additional 220,433 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,081,000 after buying an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.2% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,402,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,334,000 after buying an additional 105,408 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,057,000 after buying an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi raised 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. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FE shares. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $39.93 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.37.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.47%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 100.00%.

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.