FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Short Interest Update

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) was the target of a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,630,000 shares, a decrease of 8.8% from the March 15th total of 12,750,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,500,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 3.3 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective for the company. StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. Finally, KeyCorp upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $40.38.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:FE traded up $0.62 on Wednesday, reaching $37.45. 2,548,515 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,412,209. FirstEnergy has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $41.17. The company’s 50 day moving average is $37.64 and its 200-day moving average is $36.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $21.55 billion, a PE ratio of 20.35 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.38.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 90.61%.

Institutional Trading of FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Citigroup Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% in the third quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,810,000 after acquiring an additional 218,439 shares during the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the third quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,000 after acquiring an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank increased its stake in shares of 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 increased its stake in shares of 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 increased its stake in shares of 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 owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.