Advisors Capital Management LLC Sells 430 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Advisors Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 430 shares during the quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $229,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 69.3% in the 4th quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 255 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Investment Management LLC bought a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co grew its stake 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 purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, Bernard Wealth Management Corp. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on FE shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank cut their price target on FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $47.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.17.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of FE opened at $41.03 on Wednesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $39.90 and its 200 day moving average is $40.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $36.81 and a 12-month high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $23.66 billion, a PE ratio of 26.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.41.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.445 per share. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio is 104.71%.

FirstEnergy 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.