Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Sells 61,172 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC trimmed its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 16.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 314,239 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 61,172 shares during the quarter. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned approximately 0.05% of FirstEnergy worth $11,520,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,996,000 after buying an additional 3,756,228 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,950,000 after buying an additional 407,350 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,848,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $324,380,000 after purchasing an additional 272,478 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 5,543,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $189,473,000 after purchasing an additional 92,561 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,828,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,867,000 after acquiring an additional 44,031 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FE. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Scotiabank cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:FE traded up $0.11 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $38.32. 157,320 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,335,151. The firm has a market cap of $22.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $37.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $37.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $32.18 and a 52-week high of $41.17.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

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.