Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. Buys 464 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 464 shares during the period. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $921,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 41,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,913,000 after purchasing an additional 3,111 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 19.8% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 87,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,242,000 after purchasing an additional 14,466 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 7,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $742,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 98,540.0% in the 4th quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 4,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $464,000 after purchasing an additional 4,927 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 271,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,749,000 after purchasing an additional 6,902 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 1.0 %

WEC opened at $104.72 on Thursday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $77.47 and a twelve month high of $110.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a fifty day moving average of $100.77 and a 200-day moving average of $97.84. The stock has a market cap of $33.07 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.45.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 research report on Wednesday, December 4th. 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 research report on Wednesday, February 5th. 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 research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $101.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. This trade represents a 8.33 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total transaction of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. The trade was a 4.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.