Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. Trims Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 17,147 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 679 shares during the period. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Citigroup Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% during the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 218,439 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after purchasing an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% in the third quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,703,000 after acquiring an additional 136,370 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after acquiring an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 447.1% in the third quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP now owns 372,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,715,000 after acquiring an additional 304,000 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE stock traded up $0.17 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $38.63. The stock had a trading volume of 449,784 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,501,748. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $37.23 and a 200 day simple moving average of $36.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.38. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.19 billion, a PE ratio of 21.25 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.99.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.56% and a return on equity of 13.52%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.40%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 90.61%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on FE shares. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.67.

FirstEnergy Company 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.