F M Investments LLC Purchases 10,040 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

F M Investments LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 27.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 46,093 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 10,040 shares during the period. F M Investments LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,834,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth about $12,198,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 48,759 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,933,000 after purchasing an additional 17,506 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,902,000 after buying an additional 14,129 shares in the last quarter. Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $664,000. Finally, Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its position in FirstEnergy by 16.8% during the third quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 186,406 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,267,000 after buying an additional 26,874 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on FE shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank reduced their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 3.3 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock traded up $1.35 on Thursday, hitting $42.15. The stock had a trading volume of 2,517,498 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,444,781. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $39.92 and a 200 day moving average of $40.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $24.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.17, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.92 and a twelve month 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.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.22%. FirstEnergy's 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.