Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC Has $229,000 Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,745 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 367 shares during the quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $229,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Covestor Ltd grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the fourth quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total value of $516,360.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Bank of America raised FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $44.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Up 0.5%

NYSE FE opened at $42.67 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $40.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $40.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $37.58 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97. The stock has a market capitalization of $24.62 billion, a PE ratio of 27.53, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.07. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.68 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.55 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is presently 94.68%.

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.