Redwood Investment Management LLC Takes Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Redwood Investment Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 44,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,785,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after buying an additional 508,570 shares during the period. Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after acquiring an additional 329,049 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after acquiring an additional 220,433 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,606,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,257,000 after acquiring an additional 276,241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstEnergy

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $42.43 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $24.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.37, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $40.81 and its 200-day moving average is $40.61. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

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.