Morton Community Bank Has $3.60 Million Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Morton Community Bank raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 1.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 90,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,660 shares during the period. Morton Community Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $3,596,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth about $12,198,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 2,346,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $104,057,000 after acquiring an additional 171,955 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,154,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 41.8% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 47,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,902,000 after purchasing an additional 14,129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Whalen Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter worth approximately $664,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $45.33.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FE opened at $38.54 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $22.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.98 and a 200 day moving average of $41.60.

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

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 7th were issued a $0.425 dividend. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is currently 100.00%.

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.