Balanced Wealth Group LLC Acquires Shares of 21,461 FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Balanced Wealth Group LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 21,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $787,000.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 8.4% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 499,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,074,000 after purchasing an additional 38,520 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 24.2% during the third quarter. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. now owns 20,723 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $708,000 after purchasing an additional 4,034 shares in the last quarter. Baystate Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth $60,000. Strs Ohio boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 11.2% in the third quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 79,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,702,000 after purchasing an additional 7,941 shares in the last quarter. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 172,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,907,000 after purchasing an additional 2,227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock traded up $0.12 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $39.47. 2,283,565 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,325,995. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $38.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.30. The firm has a market cap of $22.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $32.18 and a twelve month high of $40.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 8.22%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 97.70%.

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.