Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Decreases Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 45.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 24,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 20,000 shares during the quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position 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 valued at $32,965,000 after acquiring an additional 694,313 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $403,517,000 after acquiring an additional 457,231 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $14,933,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 1,178.5% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 286,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,977,000 after buying an additional 264,389 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,423,000 after buying an additional 218,165 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus upgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America boosted 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. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $42.63 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.57 billion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $42.78 and its 200-day moving average price is $41.49. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

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

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.99%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.