Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. Buys 355 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 16.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,497 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 355 shares during the quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $236,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at $45,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the third quarter valued at about $50,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 over the last three months. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $99.18 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $93.05. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.00 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is presently 81.66%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.