Visionary Horizons LLC Takes Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Visionary Horizons LLC purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 14,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $598,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Balanced Wealth Group LLC increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Balanced Wealth Group LLC now owns 26,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the last quarter. Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Focus Partners Wealth grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Focus Partners Wealth now owns 19,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $835,000 after acquiring an additional 272 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 5.5% in the first quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $222,000 after buying an additional 287 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AHL Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in FirstEnergy by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. AHL Investment Management Inc. now owns 22,415 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $906,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Trading Up 0.8%

NYSE FE opened at $40.12 on Wednesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a one year low of $37.58 and a one year high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $41.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $40.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $23.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.88, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.40.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.68 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business’s revenue was up 14.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.55 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th were paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.44%. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 94.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Jon Taylor K. sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $43.03, for a total transaction of $516,360.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 99,919 shares in the company, valued at $4,299,514.57. This represents a 10.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

FE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $48.00 target price (up from $47.00) on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Bank of America upgraded FirstEnergy from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $42.00 to $45.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho set a $43.00 price objective on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Friday, April 25th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.