First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. Purchases New Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 6,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Duality Advisers LP acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at $1,644,000. Citigroup Inc. raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,018,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $34,810,000 after purchasing an additional 218,439 shares in the last quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.6% during the 3rd quarter. Tokio Marine Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 12,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,000 after buying an additional 866 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank grew its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 11,260.9% in the 3rd quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 137,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,703,000 after buying an additional 136,370 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.4% in the third quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 26,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after buying an additional 607 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $39.34 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $22.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.61 and a beta of 0.48. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $38.07 and its 200-day moving average is $37.30. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $32.18 and a 1 year high of $40.42.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 12.45% and a net margin of 8.22%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 6th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.32%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 97.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. Bank of America increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. StockNews.com raised FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $39.80.

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.