WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Shares Bought by Ameritas Advisory Services LLC

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 29.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 26,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,067 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $2,493,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during 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 acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $453,794,000 after acquiring an additional 4,691,017 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 102.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,912,223 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $462,276,000 after acquiring an additional 699,177 shares during the period. Finally, Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 57.7% during the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 1,900,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,765,000 after acquiring an additional 695,317 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $99.18 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $96.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46. The firm has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a one year low of $75.13 and a one year 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.00 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect 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 disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on WEC. KeyCorp lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.