First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Takes Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 31.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 15,827,860 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $540,996,000 after buying an additional 3,756,228 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 13,573,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $463,950,000 after acquiring an additional 407,350 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 8,848,344 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $324,380,000 after purchasing an additional 272,478 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.7% in the third quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 5,543,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $189,473,000 after acquiring an additional 92,561 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 3,828,791 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,867,000 after purchasing an additional 44,031 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on FE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed 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. 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, April 22nd. StockNews.com upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $39.34 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $38.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $37.30. The company has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a PE ratio of 22.61 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $40.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 in the prior year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. The company’s revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.32%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 97.70%.

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.