United Services Automobile Association Makes New $426,000 Investment in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

United Services Automobile Association bought a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 10,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $426,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% during the third 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. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. WASHINGTON TRUST Co increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares during the period. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. 89.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. KeyCorp decreased their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $45.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 28th. UBS Group boosted their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $41.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $48.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $45.00.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $39.03 on Tuesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.81 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $41.26. The company has a market capitalization of $22.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.18, a PEG ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

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

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 7th will be issued a $0.445 dividend. This represents a $1.78 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.56%. This is a boost from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.43. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is presently 104.71%.

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.