Short Interest in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Rises By 7.8%

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of November. As of November 30th, there was short interest totalling 11,230,000 shares, an increase of 7.8% from the November 15th total of 10,420,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 2,850,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.9 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,057,000 after buying an additional 171,955 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,154,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares during the period. Public Sector Pension Investment Board grew its position in FirstEnergy by 52.7% in the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,361,000 after purchasing an additional 30,309 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $596,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded down $0.06 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $39.84. The company had a trading volume of 2,517,208 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,892,728. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $42.08 and its 200-day moving average is $41.64. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $22.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51. 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 (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. FirstEnergy’s revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.27%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a “hold” rating and a $46.00 target price on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Scotiabank raised shares of 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

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.