Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund Reduces Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund decreased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 365 shares during the quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.9% during 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 valued at $104,057,000 after acquiring an additional 171,955 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $1,154,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after acquiring an additional 14,129 shares during the period. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $664,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE FE opened at $40.68 on Thursday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.01 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $23.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.24, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $39.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

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.