Truist Financial Corp Boosts Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Aug 11th, 2023

Truist Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE – Free Report) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 251,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 36,172 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $10,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of FE. Versor Investments LP acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter worth $223,000. Commerce Bank boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 62,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,488,000 after acquiring an additional 1,406 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund now owns 42,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,688,000 after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 237,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,513,000 after acquiring an additional 1,690 shares during the period. 85.35% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE opened at $36.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $38.75 and a 200-day moving average of $39.38. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $35.60 and a 52-week high of $43.31. The company has a market cap of $20.82 billion, a PE ratio of 45.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.22 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.07, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.60.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $0.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.46 by $0.01. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.41% and a net margin of 3.55%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.89 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.53 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 7th will be issued a $0.39 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 4th. This represents a $1.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.30%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 197.47%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Bank of America upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $38.00 to $39.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 14th. TheStreet lowered FirstEnergy from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Guggenheim cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $46.00 to $44.00 in a research report on Friday, July 7th. UBS Group lowered FirstEnergy from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $45.00 to $40.00 in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $42.38.

Read Our Latest Analysis on FE

FirstEnergy Profile

(Free Report)

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.