Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. Buys 797 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 5,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 797 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $211,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the topic of a number of research reports. KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.5 %

FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.05 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $39.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.84, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52 week low of $36.81 and a 52 week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. Analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 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.