Guggenheim Capital LLC Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 24.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 152,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,683 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. MML Investors Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 8.8% during the third quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 25,411 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,127,000 after buying an additional 2,059 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 21.5% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 26,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,108,000 after purchasing an additional 4,682 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 361.9% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 24,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,101,000 after purchasing an additional 19,457 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares during the period. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 15.5% in the 3rd quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 33,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,479,000 after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $41.87 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 company has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.75. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $37.23 and a twelve month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 104.71%.

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.