Sentry Investment Management LLC Sells 311 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 14.0% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 1,909 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 311 shares during the quarter. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $76,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 16,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $750,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 59.1% in the third quarter. Quarry LP now owns 861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after buying an additional 324 shares during the period. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Seaport Res Ptn cut shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 31st. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE FE opened at $38.68 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $22.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.96, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.01 and a 12-month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. On average, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.39%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

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.