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

Portside Wealth Group LLC decreased its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 51.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in 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 quarter. Portside Wealth Group LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Covestor Ltd raised its holdings in shares of 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 period. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other FirstEnergy news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $503,640.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock traded down $0.36 during trading on Friday, reaching $40.31. The company had a trading volume of 3,850,510 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,859,474. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $37.58 and a 52 week high of $44.97. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $41.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $40.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $23.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.55 EPS. FirstEnergy's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th were issued a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy's previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho set a $43.00 price target on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI lifted 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $46.00.

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.