Franklin Resources Inc. Has $90.07 Million Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE – Get Rating) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,147,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,016 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $90,065,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 33.2% during the 4th quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 114,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,804,000 after buying an additional 28,544 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,202,000. Gyroscope Capital Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 13.4% in the 4th quarter. Gyroscope Capital Management Group LLC now owns 214,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,986,000 after purchasing an additional 25,259 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.8% in the 4th quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 199,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,366,000 after purchasing an additional 7,319 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of Hawaii lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Bank of Hawaii now owns 18,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $777,000 after purchasing an additional 755 shares during the period. 81.80% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $41.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 10th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $44.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 20th. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “hold” rating for the company. Mizuho cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $43.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $37.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.06, a quick ratio of 0.55 and a current ratio of 0.68. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.32 and a fifty-two week high of $43.69. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $39.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $40.25. The stock has a market cap of $21.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 0.44.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.61 by ($0.01). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 3.23% and a return on equity of 12.60%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.60 EPS. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 5th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. This represents a $1.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 4th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 219.72%.

FirstEnergy Profile

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FirstEnergy Corp. engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity as well as energy management and other energy-related services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following business segments: Regulated Distribution, Regulated Transmission, and Corporate or Other.