FirstEnergy Sees Unusually High Options Volume (NYSE:FE)

FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) was the target of unusually large options trading on Friday. Stock investors bought 15,121 put options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 430% compared to the typical daily volume of 2,853 put options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter worth about $25,000. Oliver Lagore Vanvalin Investment Group purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth approximately $26,000. Investment Research & Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 186.4% during the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 440 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 380.2% during the third quarter. American National Bank & Trust now owns 581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 460 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on FE. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. KeyCorp cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “overweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $49.00 to $46.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.75.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $46.89. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,516,607 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,833,129. FirstEnergy has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $48.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $27.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.64. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $45.44 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $44.33.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.83 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.76 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $4.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.94 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 9.19%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.85 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 6th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 77.73%.

About FirstEnergy

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.