Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank Buys 9,941 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 91,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,941 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,367,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 52.9% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 2,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. DnB Asset Management AS increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 43.0% in the third quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 32,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,110,000 after purchasing an additional 9,768 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 42.7% in the third quarter. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA now owns 1,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 500 shares during the period. Meridian Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 122.1% in the third quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 168,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,743,000 after purchasing an additional 92,375 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.3% in the third quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 66,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,268,000 after purchasing an additional 873 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price objective on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, February 12th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $40.33.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.1 %

NYSE FE opened at $38.21 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.38 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.10. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $37.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $37.05. The company has a market capitalization of $21.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.11 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $32.18 and a 1-year high of $41.17.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 13.52% and a net margin of 8.56%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.45%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 90.61%.

FirstEnergy Company 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.