Ieq Capital LLC Has $475,000 Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Ieq Capital LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 11,946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 862 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $475,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,198,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after purchasing an additional 220,433 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4,445.0% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 219,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,732,000 after purchasing an additional 214,606 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the 3rd 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 worth $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 95.3% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 323,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,852,000 after purchasing an additional 157,666 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $42.99 on Thursday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.79. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.01 and a one year high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.95%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. KeyCorp dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

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.