AE Wealth Management LLC Boosts Position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)

AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 22.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 320,286 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 59,541 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC owned about 0.06% of FirstEnergy worth $12,946,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $256,000. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 17.6% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 5,315 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the period. Virtu Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $260,000. LPL Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 285,578 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,360,000 after buying an additional 20,071 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total transaction of $503,640.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This trade represents a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This trade represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on FE. Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $44.00 price target on FirstEnergy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $45.92.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE traded up $0.25 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $41.44. 3,201,156 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,796,445. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.42, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.53. The stock has a market cap of $23.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.39. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $40.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $40.54.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 7.78% and a return on equity of 11.49%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.30%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.