Sandy Spring Bank Has $95,000 Stock Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Sandy Spring Bank grew its position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 2,036.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,281 shares during the quarter. Sandy Spring Bank’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $95,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the third quarter. True Wealth Design LLC now owns 654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 640 shares in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the fourth quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on FE. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Wolfe Research lowered shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised 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. KeyCorp cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of FE stock opened at $39.62 on Friday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12 month low of $36.81 and a 12 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $39.95 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.34. The company has a market cap of $22.85 billion, a PE ratio of 25.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced 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). The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.53 billion. FirstEnergy had a return on equity of 11.38% and a net margin of 6.64%. Equities analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be paid a $0.445 dividend. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. This represents a $1.78 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.49%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 104.71%.

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.