William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. Takes Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

William B. Walkup & Associates Inc. bought a new stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $31,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vantage Financial Partners LLC increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 25.2% during the 4th quarter. Vantage Financial Partners LLC now owns 7,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $647,000 after purchasing an additional 1,547 shares in the last quarter. Stifel Financial Corp increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 241,531 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,331,000 after purchasing an additional 11,709 shares in the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. ADV acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter worth approximately $399,000. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 109.1% during the 4th quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 107,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,033,000 after purchasing an additional 55,999 shares in the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 24,964 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,932.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 750 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.45, for a total transaction of $66,337.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 21,876 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,934,932.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $31,412.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 2,377 shares in the company, valued at $213,335.75. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058 over the last ninety days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 21st. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.69.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:WEC opened at $96.18 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $91.40 and its 200-day moving average is $84.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $75.13 and a 52 week high of $96.65. The firm has a market cap of $30.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.00, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.44.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.85% and a return on equity of 12.26%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 3.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.92 EPS. Equities analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 14th were paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.47%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.93%.

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.