ABC Arbitrage SA Makes New Investment in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

ABC Arbitrage SA acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 6,252 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $588,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Annex Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 6.5% during the 4th quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC now owns 110,644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,405,000 after purchasing an additional 6,785 shares during the last quarter. DRW Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 3rd quarter worth about $1,392,000. Matrix Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the 4th quarter worth about $1,538,000. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 51.0% during the 3rd quarter. Motley Fool Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,883,000 after buying an additional 10,126 shares during the period. Finally, Gateway Investment Advisers LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 20.9% during the 4th quarter. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC now owns 453,945 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,689,000 after buying an additional 78,580 shares during the period. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at WEC Energy Group

In other news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 1,805 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,611,581.01. This represents a 12.82 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 48,794 shares of company stock worth $4,866,579 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

WEC has been the subject of several analyst reports. Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $89.00 to $93.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, December 9th. StockNews.com lowered WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. KeyCorp boosted their price objective on 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, Bank of America upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $90.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.88.

WEC Energy Group Trading Down 0.7 %

NYSE WEC opened at $103.10 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $32.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.35, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.49. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $97.05 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $95.79. 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 52 week low of $76.50 and a 52 week high of $104.01.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.49 by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $2.28 billion during 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%. The company’s revenue was up 3.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.91%.

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.