Townsquare Capital LLC Sells 36,375 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Townsquare Capital LLC reduced its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 17.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 175,127 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 36,375 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $7,767,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,423,000 after purchasing an additional 218,165 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,517,000 after purchasing an additional 457,231 shares during the period. First Pacific Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,557,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $136,152,000 after purchasing an additional 69,512 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,725,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,288,000 after purchasing an additional 193,540 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,896,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,570,000 after purchasing an additional 104,253 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.8 %

FE stock opened at $42.63 on Thursday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $35.41 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $42.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Argus upgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.91.

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.