Vanguard Group Inc. Purchases 306,313 Shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE)

Key Points

• Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy Corporation by 0.5%, acquiring an additional 306,313 shares to reach a total of 66,150,214 shares, worth approximately $2.67 billion.
• Several institutional investors have also adjusted their holdings, with notable transactions including new positions from Brighton Jones LLC and Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC in the fourth quarter.
• FirstEnergy recently declared a quarterly dividend of $0.445, with an annualized dividend yield of 4.1%, scheduled for payment on September 1st.

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 66,150,214 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 306,313 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned 11.46% of FirstEnergy worth $2,673,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $256,000. Orion Portfolio Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $218,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its position in FirstEnergy by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 381,181 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,163,000 after buying an additional 50,363 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 278,226 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,350,000 after buying an additional 2,544 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $30,069,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on FE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Mizuho increased 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. Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group set a $44.00 price target on FirstEnergy and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $46.08.

Insider Buying and Selling at FirstEnergy

In other news, CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of FirstEnergy 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 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $43.26 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $40.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $40.78. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $24.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.50 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.31% and a net margin of 9.31%. The business 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 business posted $0.56 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, August 7th will be given 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 78.76%.

FirstEnergy 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.

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