Quest Partners LLC Grows Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Quest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 85.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 91,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,222 shares during the quarter. FirstEnergy makes up about 0.4% of Quest Partners LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Quest Partners LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $4,062,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after buying an additional 9,773,785 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 694,313 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the third 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 in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth about $14,933,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,178.5% during the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 286,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,977,000 after purchasing an additional 264,389 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on FE. Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $41.51 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $43.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.36. The stock has a market cap of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.