New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Has $1.42 Million Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board cut its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,416,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,500,680,000 after purchasing an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in 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 in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings 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 worth $453,794,000 after purchasing an additional 4,691,017 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $362,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, 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 directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on WEC shares. Scotiabank upped 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 report on Monday, December 9th. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price target for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.7 %

NYSE WEC opened at $103.10 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.60. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $95.86. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $76.50 and a twelve month high of $104.01. The stock has a market cap of $32.62 billion, a PE ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The business had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 69.15%.

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.