Private Capital Management LLC Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Private Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 49.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,827 shares during the period. Private Capital Management LLC's holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 73.5% in the fourth quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $656,309,000 after acquiring an additional 6,991,866 shares during the last quarter. Amundi boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $73,334,000 after acquiring an additional 939,240 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 118.2% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,640,808 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $65,271,000 after acquiring an additional 888,800 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,069,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on FE. Mizuho set a $43.00 target price on FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, April 28th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, April 7th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $46.00.

Insider Activity at FirstEnergy

In related news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:FE traded up $0.23 during trading on Friday, reaching $42.67. 4,413,549 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,662,051. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $37.58 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $40.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.60. The firm has a market cap of $24.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.55 earnings per share. FirstEnergy's revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. 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 4.17%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

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.