Everpar Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Everpar Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 20,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $751,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $540,996,000 after buying an additional 3,756,228 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $463,950,000 after buying an additional 407,350 shares in the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,575,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $293,123,000 after buying an additional 306,503 shares in the last quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 447.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,715,000 after buying an additional 304,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after buying an additional 218,439 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE traded up $0.38 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.34. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,963,132 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,337,840. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $32.18 and a 12-month high of $40.42. The stock has a market cap of $22.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.61 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $38.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $37.30.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.32%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 97.70%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $39.80.

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.