Private Advisor Group LLC Sells 598 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Private Advisor Group LLC decreased its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 598 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 110.5% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 31,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,413,000 after buying an additional 16,729 shares in the last quarter. Livelsberger Financial Advisory bought a new position in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth $26,000. Everence Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at $423,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 9,098,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,517,000 after acquiring an additional 457,231 shares in the last quarter. Finally, OLD National Bancorp IN acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 3rd quarter worth about $202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $41.73 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $43.62 and a 200 day moving average of $41.08. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $34.92 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $24.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 26.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.88 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.07%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 109.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $45.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Argus raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $50.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

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.