Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,018,704 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 64,491 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.35% of FirstEnergy worth $80,302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 361.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 24,834 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,101,000 after buying an additional 19,457 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.0% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 3,546,001 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $153,081,000 after purchasing an additional 34,151 shares in the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy by 15.5% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 33,532 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,479,000 after purchasing an additional 4,503 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.2% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 617,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $27,398,000 after purchasing an additional 30,769 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 10,897 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $433,000 after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on FE. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of FE opened at $43.13 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.83, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a 50-day moving average of $40.28 and a 200 day moving average of $40.69. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. 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 previous year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.13%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.68%.

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.

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