Wright Investors Service Inc. Takes $813,000 Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Wright Investors Service Inc. acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 8,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $813,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the first quarter valued at approximately $127,945,000. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its position in WEC Energy Group by 93.3% in the fourth quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,665,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $140,146,000 after buying an additional 803,718 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 36.7% in the second quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 2,566,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $201,328,000 after buying an additional 688,812 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 36.0% during the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,748,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $143,557,000 after acquiring an additional 462,646 shares during the period. Finally, Susquehanna Fundamental Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $23,297,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $102.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, August 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $80.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.67.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.9 %

NYSE:WEC traded down $0.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $95.48. 1,460,839 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,152,547. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $92.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.95. The firm has a market cap of $30.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.44. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $75.13 and a fifty-two week high of $97.08. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

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

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 14th were issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.50%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is 72.93%.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $129,796.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Anthony Reese sold 1,362 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.78, for a total value of $120,918.36. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 1,462 shares in the company, valued at approximately $129,796.36. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 350 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.75, for a total transaction of $31,412.50. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 2,377 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $213,335.75. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 11,702 shares of company stock valued at $1,078,058. 0.34% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.