Simmons Bank Takes $205,000 Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Simmons Bank purchased a new position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 5,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Sugarloaf Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 327.3% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 792 shares during the last quarter. Wetzel Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $40,000. NBC Securities Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the third quarter worth $45,000. Finally, Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter worth about $45,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on FE shares. 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 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE FE opened at $39.47 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $38.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.30. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $32.18 and a 12 month high of $40.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 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.