Golden State Equity Partners Boosts Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Golden State Equity Partners lifted its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 28.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,181 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $444,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Dearborn Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Dearborn Partners LLC now owns 582,421 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,022,000 after buying an additional 131,797 shares during the period. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the 4th quarter. Vaughan David Investments LLC IL now owns 428,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,059,000 after buying an additional 14,084 shares during the period. abrdn plc raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 72.6% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 129,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,933,000 after buying an additional 54,623 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 205,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,552,000 after buying an additional 24,892 shares during the period. Finally, Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 44,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,582,000 after buying an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 274,782 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other WEC Energy Group news, Chairman Gale E. Klappa sold 37,180 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.69, for a total transaction of $2,925,694.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 274,782 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $21,622,595.58. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 2,830 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, February 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $78.89, for a total value of $223,258.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 43,125 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,402,131.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $81.49 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $80.25 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.42. The stock has a market cap of $25.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.40. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $97.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.29, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.55.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.08 by $0.02. The firm had revenue of $2.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.82 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.17% and a net margin of 14.98%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 13.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.80 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1st. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 13th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 79.15%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. StockNews.com cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 13th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on WEC Energy Group from $96.00 to $90.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group assumed coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Wednesday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $88.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on WEC Energy Group from $93.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.64.

WEC Energy Group Profile

WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments.