124,635 Shares in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Purchased by Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC

Richard Bernstein Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 124,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,958,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 60.3% during the fourth quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 32,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,274,000 after buying an additional 12,050 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 1,112,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,254,000 after acquiring an additional 15,507 shares in the last quarter. Millington Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,266,000. South Dakota Investment Council grew its position in FirstEnergy by 32.2% in the 4th quarter. South Dakota Investment Council now owns 69,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,755,000 after acquiring an additional 16,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 93,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,729,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.5 %

FE opened at $43.51 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $36.01 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $25.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.07, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.78.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.91%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 109.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

FirstEnergy 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.