Rockland Trust Co. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC – Free Report) by 1.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 116,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,083 shares during the quarter. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $10,983,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Coastline Trust Co acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth $29,000. William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter valued at about $45,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL purchased a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Friedenthal Financial acquired a new stake in WEC Energy Group during the third quarter worth about $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Scotiabank raised their target price 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. Barclays raised 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 research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.
Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group
In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This trade represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’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 sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $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. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.
WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.8 %
Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $94.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.93 billion, a PE ratio of 23.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.48. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $75.13 and a 1 year high of $102.79. 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’s 50-day moving average is $96.56 and its two-hundred day moving average is $92.84.
WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.00 earnings per share. Analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.
WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.8925 dividend. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 87.29%.
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.
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