Bard Financial Services Inc. Sells 560 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Bard Financial Services Inc. cut its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 13.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 560 shares during the quarter. Bard Financial Services Inc.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. 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 valued at $2,101,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the period. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 35,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,962,000 after purchasing an additional 3,045 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 15.1% during the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 1,520,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $127,993,000 after purchasing an additional 199,288 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 25,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,122,000 after purchasing an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 15,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,000 after acquiring an additional 481 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at WEC Energy Group

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

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

Shares of WEC stock traded down $0.83 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $95.48. The company had a trading volume of 1,460,839 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,152,547. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52-week low of $75.13 and a 52-week high of $97.08. The stock has a market cap of $30.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.85, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.44. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.95.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.67 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.63 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.77 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 revenue for the quarter was down 3.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.92 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, September 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.67.

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.