Essex Financial Services Inc. Has $231,000 Holdings in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

Essex Financial Services Inc. increased its stake in shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE) by 6.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 340 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in FirstEnergy were worth $231,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWM LLC grew its holdings in FirstEnergy by 2.8% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 30,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,355,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 3,815.2% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 23,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,049,000 after buying an additional 23,044 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its stake in FirstEnergy by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 38,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,699,000 after buying an additional 1,813 shares during the last quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 5,924 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $263,000 after acquiring an additional 417 shares during the period. Finally, Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in FirstEnergy by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 1,296 shares during the period. 89.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

FirstEnergy Price Performance

Shares of FirstEnergy stock opened at $40.28 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $23.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $39.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $41.83. FirstEnergy Corp. has a twelve month low of $36.01 and a twelve month high of $44.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.58, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.56.

FirstEnergy Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.425 per share. This represents a $1.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 7th. FirstEnergy’s payout ratio is 109.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

FE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. KeyCorp lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $48.00 to $47.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on FirstEnergy from $52.00 to $50.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wolfe Research downgraded FirstEnergy from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upgraded shares of FirstEnergy from a “sector perform” rating to a “sector outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $45.00 to $50.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of FirstEnergy from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, FirstEnergy has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $46.27.

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.