Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Has $13.42 Million Stock Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 8.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 142,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,607 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $13,424,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth $1,806,000. Essex Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the fourth quarter worth $202,000. Focus Financial Network Inc. raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 31.5% during the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 5,320 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 1,274 shares during the last quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 46.2% during the fourth quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 4,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $437,000 after buying an additional 1,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Savant Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 22,789 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,143,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price 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. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Barclays upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Bank of America upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Scotiabank upped 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 note on Monday, December 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

WEC opened at $103.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $32.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $97.05 and a 200 day moving average of $95.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.60. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $76.50 and a fifty-two week high of $104.01.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $2.28 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.50 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.75% and a return on equity of 12.39%. WEC Energy Group’s quarterly revenue was up 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 69.15%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

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.