Blue Trust Inc. Purchases 699 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 5.6% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 13,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 699 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,243,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in 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 during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,971,000 after buying an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579 in the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC Energy Group stock opened at $103.10 on Friday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.50 and a fifty-two week high of $104.01. The stock has a market cap of $32.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $97.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $95.79. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.60.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 73.91%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

WEC has been the topic of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. StockNews.com downgraded WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

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.