Quarry LP Has $163,000 Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Quarry LP grew its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 375.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 4,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,232 shares during the quarter. Quarry LP’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $163,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,334,000 after purchasing an additional 939,240 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 118.2% in the fourth 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. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,069,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after buying an additional 508,570 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $42.76 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $24.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $40.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.67.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.55 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.16%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday. Finally, Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

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.