Edgestream Partners L.P. Buys 36,498 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 419.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 36,498 shares during the quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,798,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $30,069,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $12,198,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after acquiring an additional 220,433 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the third 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 valued at $104,057,000 after buying an additional 171,955 shares during the period. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 95.3% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 323,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,852,000 after buying an additional 157,666 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.36, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $36.81 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $39.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. On average, equities analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.