Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.47 Million Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 22.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,317 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 6,720 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,468,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Covestor Ltd grew 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 purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its position in FirstEnergy by 293.0% in 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 FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstEnergy

In other FirstEnergy news, 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 sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 183 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,680.51. The trade was a 98.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock traded up $0.30 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $40.12. The company's stock had a trading volume of 14,783,034 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,820,667. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $37.58 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $41.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $40.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.55 EPS. Research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is currently 94.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $48.00 price target (up from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. 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 note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.00.

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.