Ameriprise Financial Inc. Decreases Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Ameriprise Financial Inc. trimmed its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 13.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,074,183 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,105,373 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned 1.23% of FirstEnergy worth $281,373,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the fourth 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. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded up $0.05 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $42.54. The stock had a trading volume of 2,162,499 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,601,026. 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 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.57 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. FirstEnergy's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.18%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In other FirstEnergy news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the firm'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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This trade represents a 10.72 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.