Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Acquires 8,446 Shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE - Free Report) by 16.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 60,042 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 8,446 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $2,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.4% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 339,439 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $12,990,000 after buying an additional 11,274 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,896,140 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,570,000 after purchasing an additional 104,253 shares in the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. boosted its holdings in FirstEnergy by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. now owns 9,879 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 2,176 shares during the period. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 16.4% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC now owns 37,582 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,418,000 after purchasing an additional 5,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seven Eight Capital LP bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth approximately $252,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of FE stock traded down $0.16 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $39.92. 4,082,352 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,295,186. 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. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $40.53 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $41.73. The firm has a market cap of $23.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.93 and a beta of 0.52.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.90 by ($0.05). The company had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.96 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.67 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be paid a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 109.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. 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. Argus upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $50.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a report on Monday, October 14th. They set a "hold" rating and a $46.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $46.27.

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.