Gotham Asset Management LLC Increases Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Gotham Asset Management LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 8.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 11,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 844 shares during the period. Gotham Asset Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Focus Partners Wealth grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its position in FirstEnergy by 28.0% during the fourth quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 314,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,508,000 after acquiring an additional 68,738 shares during the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 24.8% during the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after acquiring an additional 2,438 shares during the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 52.2% during the fourth quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 7,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 2,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers increased its position in FirstEnergy by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 99,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,967,000 after acquiring an additional 22,284 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $42.82 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.60. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $24.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. 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 (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.16%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 94.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy 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.