CWS Financial Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

CWS Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 58.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the period. CWS Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $310,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in WEC. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its position 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 worth $2,500,680,000 after purchasing an additional 25,975,652 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.3% in the 3rd 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 period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17.0% in the 3rd 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 period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,912,223 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com cut shares of WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $112.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Stock Up 0.8 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $104.89 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $97.96 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $96.56. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.50 and a fifty-two week high of $105.29. The firm has a market cap of $33.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly 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 return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $2.28 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.18%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.91%.

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.