FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Shares Acquired by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 6,537 shares during the period. Czech National Bank's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $4,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.5% in the 1st quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 1,012,365 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,920,000 after buying an additional 71,032 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.8% in the first quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,835 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $236,000 after acquiring an additional 796 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the first quarter valued at $731,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 3,864.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 431,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $17,460,000 after purchasing an additional 421,072 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 58.9% during the 1st quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 17,048 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $689,000 after purchasing an additional 6,321 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at FirstEnergy

In other FirstEnergy news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was 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 now directly owns 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on FE. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE FE traded down $0.09 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $40.65. The stock had a trading volume of 2,702,794 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,732,039. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $41.57 and a 200-day moving average of $40.62. The firm has a market cap of $23.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.38%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 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.