Ridgewood Investments LLC Decreases Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Ridgewood Investments LLC cut its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 22.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Ridgewood Investments LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 50.9% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 1,600 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $150,000 after buying an additional 540 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 200,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,308,000 after purchasing an additional 2,395 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Trust Co boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 5,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 378 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 14.9% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,242 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,339,000 after purchasing an additional 1,843 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after purchasing an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on WEC. Scotiabank boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.8 %

WEC stock traded down $0.77 during trading on Friday, reaching $93.98. 738,506 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,530,585. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $96.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.32. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $102.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.73 billion, a PE ratio of 22.98, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.00 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.8925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.80%. This is an increase from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 87.29%.

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.