FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Purchased by abrdn plc

abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 815,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,139 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned approximately 0.14% of FirstEnergy worth $29,879,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 327.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 792 shares in the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, NBC Securities Inc. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the third quarter worth $45,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, February 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group started coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. Finally, Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $38.21 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $21.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a current ratio of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.18 and a 1 year high of $41.17. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $37.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $37.05.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted 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. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The business’s revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.45%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.61%.

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.