Fifth Third Bancorp Sells 1,212 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Fifth Third Bancorp decreased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 41,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,212 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its stake in shares of 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 period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,154,000. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth about $664,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 16.8% in the 3rd quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,267,000 after purchasing an additional 26,874 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on FE shares. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.7 %

NYSE:FE opened at $40.20 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.34 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.83. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $35.41 and a one year high of $44.97. The firm has a market cap of $23.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.