Cetera Investment Advisers Grows Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 28.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,729 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 22,284 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers' holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,967,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of FE. Czech National Bank grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 111,273 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,426,000 after buying an additional 6,857 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 63.2% in the fourth quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 9,062 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 3,510 shares during the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 6,689.2% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 10,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 10,569 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 752,015 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,915,000 after purchasing an additional 8,712 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV raised its position in FirstEnergy by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 244,360 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,721,000 after acquiring an additional 4,349 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded up $0.14 on Monday, hitting $42.82. 3,148,343 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,659,996. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $37.58 and a 12-month high of $44.97. 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 company has a market cap of $24.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $40.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.59.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. 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 4.16%. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on FE. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value 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. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by 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.