Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC Increases Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 55.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,081 shares during the quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $508,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 15.6% during the 1st quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 7,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Norden Group LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 77.5% during the 1st quarter. Norden Group LLC now owns 18,488 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $714,000 after buying an additional 8,074 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 22,278 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $860,000 after buying an additional 1,461 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 15,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $595,000 after buying an additional 396 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 19.9% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 111,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,310,000 after buying an additional 18,515 shares during the last quarter. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on FE. Scotiabank boosted their target price on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Seaport Res Ptn cut FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. Bank of America lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $51.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $46.00.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $41.55 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $23.95 billion, a PE ratio of 26.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.24 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $43.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $41.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $34.92 and a 52-week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The business had revenue of $3.73 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.69 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th will be given a $0.425 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

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.