FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Position Trimmed by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. trimmed its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 17.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 169,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 34,996 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,752,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Quarry LP lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

NYSE FE opened at $38.79 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $36.01 and a fifty-two week 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 stock’s 50-day moving average is $40.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.75. The firm has a market cap of $22.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced 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 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 anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on FE. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. 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 research note on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.33.

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.