Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)

Key Points

• Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in FirstEnergy Corporation by 11.5%, acquiring an additional 15,357 shares to hold a total of 149,052 shares valued at approximately $6,025,000.
• Insider activity saw CAO Jason Lisowski selling 12,000 shares at an average price of $41.97, significantly reducing his position by 98.50%.
• FirstEnergy recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.445 per share, representing an annual yield of 4.1%, with a payout ratio of 78.76%.

Natixis Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 11.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 149,052 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 15,357 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $6,025,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% during the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the period. N.E.W. Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. TruNorth Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in FirstEnergy by 226.9% in the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 706 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 490 shares during the period. Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, MJT & Associates Financial Advisory Group Inc. bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 1st quarter valued at $40,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstEnergy

In other FirstEnergy news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This represents a 98.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.1%

FE traded down $0.06 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $43.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,257,509 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,148,421. The stock's 50-day moving average is $40.83 and its 200-day moving average is $40.74. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $25.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.03, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.50 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 9.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.45 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.56 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. FirstEnergy's payout ratio is currently 78.76%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on FE shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised shares of FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $44.00 target price on FirstEnergy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 24th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.08.

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.