FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Purchased by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,305,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 85,514 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.23% of FirstEnergy worth $51,939,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in 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 in the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth about $1,154,000. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $664,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 16.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,267,000 after purchasing an additional 26,874 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.82 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $36.01 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $39.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.85.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on FE shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. KeyCorp cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, Scotiabank upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

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.