NewEdge Advisors LLC Buys 7,981 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 85,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,981 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,387,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 79.5% in the 4th quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $789,000 after purchasing an additional 8,778 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 4,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $159,000 after buying an additional 800 shares in the last quarter. Bridgewater Associates LP bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $15,296,000. Guggenheim Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 24.2% in the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 152,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,054,000 after acquiring an additional 29,683 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $3,614,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on FE shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of FE opened at $41.87 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.01, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $44.97. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average of $39.99 and a 200-day moving average of $40.69.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.25%. 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 104.71%.

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.