Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Raises Stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 7.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 519 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $686,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Coastline Trust Co purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth about $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the third quarter worth approximately $45,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial purchased a new stake in WEC Energy Group in the third quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.40.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $99.07 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $96.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.13. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $102.79. The company has a market cap of $31.34 billion, a PE ratio of 24.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48.

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

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.66%.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. This trade represents a 12.84 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.