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

Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 17.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 797 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $211,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Amundi lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 103.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 1,843,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,334,000 after buying an additional 939,240 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,069,000. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $12,198,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,318,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $371,911,000 after purchasing an additional 220,433 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $104,057,000 after purchasing an additional 171,955 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on FE. Guggenheim reduced their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $40.05 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97. The company has a 50-day moving average of $39.89 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.15. The company has a market cap of $23.10 billion, a PE ratio of 25.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. As a group, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be given a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.44%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.