Ensign Peak Advisors Inc Raises Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Ensign Peak Advisors Inc increased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 28.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 314,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 68,738 shares during the quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $12,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of FE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 65,843,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,619,270,000 after acquiring an additional 508,570 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 73.5% during the 4th quarter. Boston Partners now owns 16,503,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,309,000 after purchasing an additional 6,991,866 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,527,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $497,009,000 after purchasing an additional 329,049 shares during the last quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,911,000 after purchasing an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 4,606,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $183,257,000 after buying an additional 276,241 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 99,919 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE opened at $42.54 on Monday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $40.57 and a 200 day moving average price of $40.62. The company has a market cap of $24.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.18%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 94.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Bank of America raised FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Nine 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, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.