Short Interest in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Drops By 6.0%

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) saw a significant decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 10,300,000 shares, a decline of 6.0% from the October 15th total of 10,960,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 2,820,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 14.3% in the first quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,009,615,000 after buying an additional 9,773,785 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in 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 valued at $32,965,000 after purchasing an additional 694,313 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.3% during 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. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $14,933,000. Finally, Los Angeles Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1,178.5% in the second quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 286,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,977,000 after purchasing an additional 264,389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $41.51 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $43.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.36. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The firm has a market cap of $23.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.78, a P/E/G ratio of 2.23 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy will post 2.69 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders 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 4.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Company 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.