Wedbush Securities Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 5.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,062 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 327 shares during the quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $232,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of FE. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 2nd quarter valued at about $38,000. PFG Investments LLC increased its position in FirstEnergy by 16.6% during the second quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 18,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $724,000 after buying an additional 2,690 shares during the period. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,889,000. Morton Community Bank grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4.2% during the second quarter. Morton Community Bank now owns 88,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,395,000 after acquiring an additional 3,575 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth approximately $596,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

FE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $39.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Bank of America raised their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $48.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on FirstEnergy from $43.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $43.50.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FirstEnergy stock opened at $44.47 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.52, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.51. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $32.18 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a market cap of $25.59 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.50. The business has a fifty day moving average of $42.03 and a two-hundred day moving average of $39.78.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.56 EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.61% and a return on equity of 12.12%. The firm had revenue of $3.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.47 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.47 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.7 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, August 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 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.