Employees Retirement System of Texas Sells 13,390 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Employees Retirement System of Texas decreased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,410 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 13,390 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Balanced Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 272 shares in the last quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Horizon Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 7,290 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 336 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on FE. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Nine equities research 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, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.00.

Insider Transactions at FirstEnergy

In related news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $503,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This trade represents a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of FE traded up $0.25 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $41.95. The company had a trading volume of 4,922,381 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,714,887. The company has a market capitalization of $24.21 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. 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 Corp. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $41.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.64.

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, 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 company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.68%.

About FirstEnergy

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.