Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $23.45 Million Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 589,588 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,180 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $23,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 220,433 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,081,000 after acquiring an additional 34,151 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% in 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 acquiring an additional 171,955 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,622,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $71,960,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% in the fourth quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,305,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,939,000 after acquiring an additional 85,514 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 2.3 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $42.34 on Monday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $36.01 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The stock has a market cap of $24.40 billion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business has a fifty day moving average of $39.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.77.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.01%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.