Scotia Capital Inc. Lowers Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Scotia Capital Inc. cut its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 826 shares during the period. Scotia Capital Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of 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. Amundi increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 103.8% in 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 during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 118.2% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $65,271,000 after buying an additional 888,800 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth $30,069,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $41.06 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $39.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.77. The stock has a market cap of $23.68 billion, a PE ratio of 26.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. On average, analysts forecast 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 4.34%. 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%.

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.