NorthRock Partners LLC Buys Shares of 6,682 FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $266,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Balanced Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares in the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% in 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 in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $835,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 5,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $205,000 after purchasing an additional 324 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $42.67 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.60.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FE. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy 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 objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $43.00 price target on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstEnergy news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents 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 the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.