Jennison Associates LLC Trims Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Jennison Associates LLC trimmed its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,799,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 297,522 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC owned 0.31% of FirstEnergy worth $65,981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Duality Advisers LP bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth $1,644,000. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 30,133 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,105,000 after acquiring an additional 3,027 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 55.8% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 3,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $144,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares in the last quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 7,065 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $259,000 after acquiring an additional 1,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, abrdn plc boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 815,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,879,000 after acquiring an additional 16,139 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.1 %

FE stock opened at $38.21 on Tuesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.17. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. KeyCorp boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.33.

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.