Magellan Asset Management Ltd Sells 71,925 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 421,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 71,925 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned about 0.07% of FirstEnergy worth $16,778,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,334,000 after buying an additional 939,240 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,069,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after buying an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after purchasing an additional 329,049 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $40.60 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $39.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.05. The company has a market capitalization of $23.41 billion, a PE ratio of 26.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on FE. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Company 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.