Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 287 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Sentry Investment Management LLC lessened its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 287 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $98,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Citigroup Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,810,000 after buying an additional 218,439 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% during the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,703,000 after purchasing an additional 136,370 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 447.1% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,715,000 after buying an additional 304,000 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. StockNews.com cut FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.38.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of FE opened at $37.63 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $37.71 and a 200-day simple moving average of $36.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. The stock has a market cap of $21.66 billion, a PE ratio of 20.79 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.18 and a 1 year high of $41.17.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.50 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.52%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 90.61%.

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.