Cetera Investment Advisers Acquires 21,861 Shares of FirstEnergy Corporation $FE

Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corporation (NYSE:FE) by 8.3% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 285,170 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 21,861 shares during the quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $14,447,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State of Wyoming purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy in the second quarter worth $25,000. DV Equities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 44.4% during the first quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 232 shares during the period. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 507.9% in the fourth quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Securities Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 148.0% in the fourth quarter. Summit Securities Group LLC now owns 771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 2,376 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on FE. Barclays raised their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $53.00 to $55.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 17th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $52.92.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

FE opened at $49.71 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $28.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.02, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.42 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.87. FirstEnergy Corporation has a 12-month low of $41.30 and a 12-month high of $52.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $47.41 and its 200-day simple moving average is $48.19.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.50. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 10.66% and a net margin of 6.86%.The firm had revenue of $3.70 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.51 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.52 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corporation will post 2.73 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be given a dividend of $0.465 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. This represents a $1.86 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 101.09%.

FirstEnergy Company Profile

FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE) is a U.S.-based electric utility holding company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. The company’s primary business is the delivery of electricity through its regulated transmission and distribution utilities, serving residential, commercial and industrial customers across parts of the Midwest and Mid‑Atlantic. FirstEnergy’s service territory includes states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and West Virginia, and it operates primarily within the PJM regional transmission organization.

FirstEnergy’s core activities center on owning and operating electric distribution networks and transmission systems, maintaining and upgrading grid infrastructure, managing storm response and restoration, and offering customer programs that include energy efficiency and reliability services.