United Services Automobile Association Buys New Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

United Services Automobile Association purchased a new position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 10,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the period. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% during the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE stock opened at $39.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $22.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.18, a P/E/G ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $39.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1-year low of $36.81 and a 1-year high of $44.97.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.70 by ($0.03). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.445 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.56%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 104.71%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research cut FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. KeyCorp reduced their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

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.