Portside Wealth Group LLC Cuts Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Portside Wealth Group LLC lessened its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 51.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,528 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 12,228 shares during the period. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $256,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 41.8% during the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 14,129 shares during the period. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 46.3% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 13,913 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $553,000 after purchasing an additional 4,400 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,305,644 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $51,939,000 after purchasing an additional 85,514 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 56,613 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,252,000 after purchasing an additional 1,379 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE FE traded up $0.30 on Tuesday, reaching $40.12. 14,783,034 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,815,709. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $23.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.88, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $41.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $40.59. 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 (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 7th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other FirstEnergy news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 183 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This represents a 98.50% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.