Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Raises Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 314,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 68,738 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc owned 0.05% of FirstEnergy worth $12,508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. EP Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 24.8% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 12,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,000 after buying an additional 2,438 shares in the last quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 52.2% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 7,513 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after purchasing an additional 2,576 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 28.8% during the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 99,729 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,967,000 after purchasing an additional 22,284 shares during the last quarter. Bearing Point Capital LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $410,000. Finally, Rehmann Capital Advisory Group grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 25.6% in the fourth quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $269,000 after purchasing an additional 1,375 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.1%

FE opened at $42.54 on Monday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The business has a 50-day moving average of $40.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.62. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $24.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on FE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

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.