Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Has $383,000 Stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 35.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,515 shares during the quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $383,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in FE. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. True Wealth Design LLC lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 4,571.4% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co lifted its stake in FirstEnergy by 293.0% in the 4th quarter. WASHINGTON TRUST Co now owns 786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 586 shares in the last quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of FirstEnergy during the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

FirstEnergy Stock Performance

FE opened at $39.15 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a current ratio of 0.56 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $39.91 and a 200 day simple moving average of $41.50. FirstEnergy Corp. has a 1 year low of $36.81 and a 1 year high of $44.97. The company has a market capitalization of $22.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.07 and a beta of 0.48.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) last announced its 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). FirstEnergy had a net margin of 6.64% and a return on equity of 11.38%. The business had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.53 billion. Research analysts expect that FirstEnergy Corp. will post 2.66 EPS for the current year.

FirstEnergy Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 7th were given a dividend of $0.425 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 7th. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.34%. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 100.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on FE shares. 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. KeyCorp lowered their target price 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. Wolfe Research cut shares of FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $50.00 to $44.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, FirstEnergy currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $45.33.

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.