Allstate Corp Purchases New Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Allstate Corp acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 17,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $678,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of FE. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $218,000. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 10.6% during the 4th quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 206,197 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,203,000 after buying an additional 19,791 shares in the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 34,222.2% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 137,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,475,000 after acquiring an additional 137,231 shares during the last quarter. AssuredPartners Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $414,000. Finally, NEOS Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.5% in the fourth quarter. NEOS Investment Management LLC now owns 31,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,239,000 after acquiring an additional 7,467 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $40.43 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.32 billion, a PE ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $39.90 and a 200-day moving average of $41.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its 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 firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 104.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on FE. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

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.