FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Acquired by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 24.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 472,089 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 94,035 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned approximately 0.08% of FirstEnergy worth $18,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after purchasing an additional 220,433 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.2% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,402,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,334,000 after buying an additional 105,408 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.05 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.81 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $23.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.89 and its 200 day moving average price is $41.13.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.44%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.71%.

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.