Vestcor Inc Sells 6,166 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Vestcor Inc reduced its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 26.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 17,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,166 shares during the quarter. Vestcor Inc’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the third quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 640 shares during the period. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $32,000. Quarry LP raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 59.1% during the 3rd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares during the period. Finally, Sachetta LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 36.0% in the second quarter. Sachetta LLC now owns 929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 246 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.32 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $42.26 and its 200 day simple moving average is $41.59. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $35.41 and a 12 month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Argus raised FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.27.

About FirstEnergy

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.