CNB Bank Cuts Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

CNB Bank lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 43.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 884 shares during the period. CNB Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $46,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,417.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 743,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,965,000 after acquiring an additional 694,313 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $403,517,000 after purchasing an additional 457,231 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth about $14,933,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,445.0% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 219,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,732,000 after purchasing an additional 214,606 shares during the period. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% during 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 buying an additional 193,540 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Seaport Res Ptn lowered FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. KeyCorp cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:FE opened at $39.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.01 billion, a PE ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $40.57 and a 200 day moving average of $41.72. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (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 analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.88 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.