Heartland Advisors Inc. Has $10.36 Million Stake in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Heartland Advisors Inc. lowered its position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 17.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 217,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 44,711 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $10,358,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 15.1% in the 2nd quarter. C M Bidwell & Associates Ltd. now owns 6,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 72.5% in the second quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 27,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 11,377 shares during the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 33,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,603,000 after acquiring an additional 4,961 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 536.8% during the 2nd quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,089 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,000 after acquiring an additional 918 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Danske Bank A S raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 30.4% in the 2nd quarter. Danske Bank A S now owns 11,162 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,000 after acquiring an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. TD Cowen upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $56.00 to $53.00 in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $55.00 to $54.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, July 31st. UBS Group boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $53.00 to $52.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $52.83.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE opened at $45.99 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.88, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.54. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 52-week low of $42.87 and a 52-week high of $52.34. The firm has a market cap of $26.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.46. The business’s fifty day moving average is $47.92 and its 200-day moving average is $48.30.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.51% and a net margin of 6.86%.The business had revenue of $3.68 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.52 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.74 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Investors of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.465 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.86 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 98.94%.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid‑Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.