FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Sold by Diversify Wealth Management LLC

Diversify Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 14.3% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 19,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,212 shares during the period. Diversify Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $850,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 14.3% during the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,009,615,000 after buying an additional 9,773,785 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,423,000 after purchasing an additional 218,165 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,517,000 after purchasing an additional 457,231 shares in the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,557,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $136,152,000 after purchasing an additional 69,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,725,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,288,000 after purchasing an additional 193,540 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on FE. Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.5 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $42.20 on Thursday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $34.92 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. The company has a market capitalization of $24.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 29.93, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.50. The company’s fifty day moving average is $43.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.05.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.91 by ($0.06). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.12% and a net margin of 6.61%. The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 120.57%.

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.