WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Position Increased by Cerity Partners LLC

Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 264.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 132,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 96,515 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $12,787,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.1% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 6,876 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $554,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank raised its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 98,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,093 shares during the period. KLCM Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 35,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,952,000 after purchasing an additional 1,611 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 359.5% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 115,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,453,000 after purchasing an additional 90,062 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 76.7% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 28,740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,360,000 after buying an additional 12,471 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total value of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total value of $4,009,181.64. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,204,570.88. This represents a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 58,034 shares of company stock worth $5,725,969 in the last ninety days. 0.44% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC opened at $101.36 on Tuesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 1-year low of $75.13 and a 1-year high of $101.59. The company has a market capitalization of $32.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.44. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $96.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The company’s revenue was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, November 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a research note on Thursday, September 19th. They set a “hold” rating and a $102.00 target price for the company. KeyCorp raised their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. StockNews.com raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $88.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Three investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.45.

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.