Empirical Finance LLC Sells 258 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Empirical Finance LLC reduced its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 1.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,976 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 258 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $715,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% in 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 acquiring an additional 457,231 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.3% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,622,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $71,960,000 after buying an additional 5,500 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,305,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,939,000 after buying an additional 85,514 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on FE shares. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. KeyCorp decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $39.82 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.95 and a 200-day moving average of $41.85. The stock has a market cap of $22.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $36.01 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.