Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Raises Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 91,101 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,012 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,624,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 34.3% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 54,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,154,000 after purchasing an additional 13,829 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 23.6% in 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 during the last quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 119,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,760,000 after buying an additional 1,901 shares during the period. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 15.1% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,892 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $274,000 after acquiring an additional 904 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $46.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 31st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

NYSE:FE opened at $39.18 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $40.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $35.41 and a fifty-two week high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). The firm 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%. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.88 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.34%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

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.