AXQ Capital LP Takes Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

AXQ Capital LP purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 6,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $262,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of FE. Boston Partners raised its position in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th 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 position in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in 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 worth $135,334,000 after purchasing an additional 105,408 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 7.9% during 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 worth $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Scotiabank lowered 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. Guggenheim lowered their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE opened at $39.62 on Monday. 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 has a 50-day moving average of $39.95 and a 200-day moving average of $41.30. The company has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.81 and a one year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. On average, equities research analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.