FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Bought by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 0.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 508,570 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of FirstEnergy worth $2,619,270,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 2.7 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $37.95 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $21.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.48, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $39.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $41.22. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.69%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank decreased their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.00.

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.