HighPoint Advisor Group LLC Increases Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

HighPoint Advisor Group LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 12,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 433 shares during the quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $492,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 340 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 178.9% in the 4th quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 1,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,000 after acquiring an additional 1,252 shares during the last quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the 4th quarter. Everstar Asset Management LLC now owns 11,013 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $438,000 after acquiring an additional 780 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in FirstEnergy by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 35,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,400,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419 shares during the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,533,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $100,765,000 after purchasing an additional 22,442 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on FE shares. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. KeyCorp reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.60 on Thursday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $39.93 and a 200 day moving average of $41.05. The firm has a market cap of $23.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.19, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 4.38%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is currently 104.71%.

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.