B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. Grows Position in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 15.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 33,532 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,503 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $1,479,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of FE. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.9% in 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 valued at $104,057,000 after acquiring an additional 171,955 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of FirstEnergy in the third quarter valued at approximately $1,154,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3.3% in the second quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,317,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $50,422,000 after purchasing an additional 42,484 shares during the last quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board lifted its position in FirstEnergy by 52.7% during the second quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 87,811 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,361,000 after buying an additional 30,309 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the second quarter worth $596,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

FE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on FirstEnergy from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. KeyCorp cut their price objective 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. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $40.00 to $46.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn lowered shares of FirstEnergy from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $46.27.

FirstEnergy Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE FE opened at $39.93 on Tuesday. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 52-week low of $35.41 and a 52-week high of $44.97. The business’s 50 day moving average is $42.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $41.64. The firm has a market cap of $23.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.76, a PEG ratio of 2.18 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $0.85 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.90 by ($0.05). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The firm had revenue of $3.73 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.96 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.88 EPS. FirstEnergy’s quarterly revenue was up 6.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.68 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, December 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, November 7th were 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 was Thursday, November 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

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.