Rhumbline Advisers Grows Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Rhumbline Advisers lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 7.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,012,365 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 71,032 shares during the period. Rhumbline Advisers owned approximately 0.18% of FirstEnergy worth $40,920,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on FE shares. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, April 28th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:FE traded down $0.20 on Thursday, hitting $40.67. The stock had a trading volume of 2,413,079 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,715,806. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The stock has a market cap of $23.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.24, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.64. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is an increase from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstEnergy

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 represents a 98.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.