Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. grew its position in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 4.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 433 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. MGO One Seven LLC raised its position in FirstEnergy by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 6,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $220,000 after purchasing an additional 287 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its position in FirstEnergy by 3.8% during the 1st quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 7,973 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $308,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Allworth Financial LP grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 3,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $137,000 after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the last quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of FirstEnergy by 1.2% in the third quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 28,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $977,000 after acquiring an additional 339 shares during the period. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of FirstEnergy by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 72,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,641,000 after acquiring an additional 341 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.41% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on FE. Bank of America increased their price objective on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. StockNews.com raised shares of FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday. Scotiabank dropped their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on FirstEnergy in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $45.00 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $39.80.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE FE traded down $0.44 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $38.34. The company had a trading volume of 3,672,785 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,384,767. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 12-month low of $32.18 and a 12-month high of $40.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The business’s 50-day moving average is $37.88 and its 200 day moving average is $37.19. The stock has a market cap of $22.07 billion, a PE ratio of 22.03 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9th. The utilities provider reported $0.62 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. FirstEnergy’s revenue for the quarter was up .0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

FirstEnergy Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, May 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.43%. This is an increase from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6th. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 94.25%.

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.