Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $559,000 Holdings in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 97.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 12,193 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 451,585 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter valued at $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 186.4% in the 2nd quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 440 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FE. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Scotiabank upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $47.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.75.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.5%

FE stock opened at $44.85 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corporation has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $48.20. The company has a market cap of $25.91 billion, a PE ratio of 19.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.66. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $45.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $43.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.83 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 9.19%.The firm had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.94 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 6th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.73%.

About FirstEnergy

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid‑Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.