Royal Bank of Canada Acquires 206,000 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Royal Bank of Canada grew its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 3,981,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 206,000 shares during the quarter. Royal Bank of Canada’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $158,403,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after purchasing an additional 508,570 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners increased its position in FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after buying an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after buying an additional 329,049 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after buying an additional 220,433 shares during the period. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 6.4% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,606,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,257,000 after acquiring an additional 276,241 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of FE stock opened at $42.67 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The company has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $37.58 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.59.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on FE shares. Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.00.

About FirstEnergy

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.