FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Short Interest Down 6.0% in October

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) was the recipient of a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,300,000 shares, a decline of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 10,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,138.9% in the 2nd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 669 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 615 shares during the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Western Pacific Wealth Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $41.58 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $43.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy has a 1-year low of $35.41 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $23.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51.

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). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.69 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued 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 4.09%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the subject of several research reports. KeyCorp boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

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.