Longboard Asset Management LP Acquires New Shares in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Longboard Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. abrdn plc boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 132,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,424,000 after purchasing an additional 16,101 shares during the period. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Alliance Wealth Advisors LLC UT now owns 36,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,475,000 after acquiring an additional 1,016 shares during the period. Brentview Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter worth $3,037,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 21.9% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 1,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares during the period. Finally, Greenleaf Trust boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 4.4% during the 4th quarter. Greenleaf Trust now owns 8,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $766,000 after acquiring an additional 342 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. The trade was a 0.66 % 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 shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.44% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of WEC Energy Group stock opened at $99.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $96.67 and its 200-day moving average is $94.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $31.41 billion, a PE ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 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 announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.9 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.36%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 81.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. 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 research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. 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 research report on Monday, December 2nd. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective 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. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.00.

About WEC Energy Group

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.