Bank of Nova Scotia Sells 1,858,407 Shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)

Key Points

• Bank of Nova Scotia reduced its stake in FirstEnergy Corporation by 89.8%, selling 1,858,407 shares and now holding 211,248 shares valued at $8.54 million.
• Analysts have raised their price targets on FirstEnergy shares, with Mizuho and UBS setting targets of $45.00 and $44.00, respectively, while the average target price is $46.08.
• FirstEnergy announced a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, which will yield 4.1% and is set to be paid on September 1st.

Bank of Nova Scotia decreased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 89.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 211,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,858,407 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $8,537,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 226.9% during the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 706 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 490 shares during the period. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group set a $44.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.08.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of FE traded down $0.33 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $43.51. The stock had a trading volume of 4,382,296 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,060,127. FirstEnergy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $40.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.70. The firm has a market cap of $25.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.45 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 11.31%. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 78.76%.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In related news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total transaction of $503,640.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This represents a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

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.