GAMMA Investing LLC Raises Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 48.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,062 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,950 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $347,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Capital World Investors raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 14.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 77,928,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,009,615,000 after acquiring an additional 9,773,785 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $367,423,000 after acquiring an additional 218,165 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,930,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $344,908,000 after acquiring an additional 82,482 shares during the last quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. First Pacific Advisors LP now owns 3,481,258 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $127,623,000 after acquiring an additional 45,350 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 3,454,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,637,000 after purchasing an additional 590,815 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Barclays raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $44.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $40.92.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE traded down $0.74 during trading on Monday, reaching $41.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,608,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,988,200. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $38.42. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.18 and a 1 year high of $43.65. The company has a market cap of $24.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.16, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.49.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. The business had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.47 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.47 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, August 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 97.70%.

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.