Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Sells 3,514 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 29.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,514 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $370,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in FE. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 13,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $505,000 after acquiring an additional 1,019 shares during the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 33,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,309,000 after acquiring an additional 2,634 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 550.6% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 80,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,124,000 after acquiring an additional 68,461 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 22,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $852,000 after acquiring an additional 3,627 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 9,517,314 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,423,000 after acquiring an additional 218,165 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on FE shares. Barclays increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.91.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $42.63 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $42.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $41.49. 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 Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $24.57 billion, a PE ratio of 27.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.27 and a beta of 0.51.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business’s revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.99%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.