1,570 Shares in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Purchased by Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC

Sugar Maple Asset Management LLC bought a new position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 1,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $148,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of WEC. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 16.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,117,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $87,713,000 after buying an additional 160,128 shares in the last quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 23.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 152,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,933,000 after acquiring an additional 28,405 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 48.1% in the 2nd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 17,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,368,000 after acquiring an additional 5,667 shares during the last quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 45,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,597,000 after buying an additional 4,164 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $951,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, November 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total transaction of $179,417.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. 0.44% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

NYSE:WEC opened at $99.18 on Tuesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $102.79. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. The company has a 50-day moving average of $96.65 and a 200-day moving average of $93.26. The firm has a market cap of $31.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.48.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted 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. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $0.835 dividend. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.37%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 81.66%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on WEC. Bank of America raised shares of WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Monday, December 9th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 4th. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.40.

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.