Jason Lisowski Sells 12,000 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) Stock

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) CAO Jason Lisowski sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $41.97, for a total value of $503,640.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 183 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,680.51. This trade represents a 98.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.0%

NYSE FE traded down $0.01 on Tuesday, hitting $42.10. 3,535,328 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,693,166. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The company has a market cap of $24.30 billion, a PE ratio of 27.16, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.42. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $41.23 and a 200-day moving average of $40.62. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $37.58 and a 12 month high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 23rd. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.55 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders 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 4.23%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 94.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Mizuho set a $43.00 price target on FirstEnergy in a research note on Monday, April 28th. Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $42.00 to $45.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. UBS Group upped their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Friday, April 25th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.00.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On FirstEnergy

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of FE. Brighton Jones LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $256,000. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $203,000. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 24,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 894 shares during the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.1% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after buying an additional 904 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 23.6% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,120 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $204,000 after buying an additional 979 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.