Heartland Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Heartland Advisors Inc. cut its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 9.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 262,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 26,936 shares during the period. Heartland Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $13,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 68,109,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,049,255,000 after purchasing an additional 761,157 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 13.5% during the 3rd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 18,344,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $841,161,000 after purchasing an additional 2,185,400 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,463,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $600,351,000 after purchasing an additional 126,834 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 11,722,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $524,815,000 after purchasing an additional 34,014 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,971,706 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $508,158,000 after purchasing an additional 694,449 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $53.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $51.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 11th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $55.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $52.00 target price on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, June 24th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $52.75.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $48.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $28.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.47. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $40.50 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $46.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $47.96.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.72 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.72. The business had revenue of $4.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.80 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.66% and a net margin of 6.86%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.67 EPS. FirstEnergy has set its FY 2026 guidance at 2.620-2.820 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.74 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid?Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.