FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Short Interest Up 10.0% in January

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of January. As of January 31st, there was short interest totalling 11,290,000 shares, an increase of 10.0% from the January 15th total of 10,260,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 3,060,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.7 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On FirstEnergy

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in FE. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the period. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, True Wealth Design LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.04 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.08 billion, a PE ratio of 25.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $39.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $41.81. FirstEnergy has a 52-week low of $36.01 and a 52-week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.