Synovus Financial Corp Acquires 135 Shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 135 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. lifted its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 19.5% during the second quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. now owns 13,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,036,000 after purchasing an additional 2,151 shares in the last quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 2nd quarter worth $245,000. &PARTNERS acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 2nd quarter valued at $1,864,000. My Legacy Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter worth $622,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in shares of WEC Energy Group by 5.2% during the second quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 301,680 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,670,000 after acquiring an additional 15,023 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on WEC. Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $86.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, October 7th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, KeyCorp increased their price target on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 45,709 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.40, for a total value of $179,417.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,160,851.20. This represents a 0.66 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579. Company insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

WEC Energy Group Price Performance

Shares of WEC stock opened at $92.94 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.46, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $75.13 and a 12-month high of $102.79. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $97.68 and a 200-day moving average of $90.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $29.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.46.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 11.72% and a net margin of 15.14%. The firm had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 4.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.8925 per share. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.84%. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 87.29%.

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.