LPL Financial LLC Acquires 270,033 Shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)

LPL Financial LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 94.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 555,611 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 270,033 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.10% of FirstEnergy worth $22,458,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth about $256,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $218,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 56.0% during the fourth quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 48,759 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,933,000 after buying an additional 17,506 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth $398,000. Finally, Prudential PLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Prudential PLC now owns 32,957 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,311,000 after buying an additional 3,795 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstEnergy news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. The trade was a 10.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. The trade was a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $46.00 price target (down from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Scotiabank reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group set a $44.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Nine equities research 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.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.08.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE FE traded down $0.33 during mid-day 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. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a current ratio of 0.61. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $40.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price 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.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 9.31% and a return on equity of 11.31%. The company had revenue of $3.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.56 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 7th. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is presently 78.76%.

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.