ProShare Advisors LLC Has $4.51 Million Stock Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

ProShare Advisors LLC lowered its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 42.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 47,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 36,044 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $4,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 131.8% in the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 45,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,244,000 after acquiring an additional 25,661 shares during the last quarter. Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the fourth quarter valued at about $439,000. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Nissay Asset Management Corp Japan ADV now owns 39,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,722,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 81.3% during the fourth quarter. NorthRock Partners LLC now owns 11,238 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,057,000 after purchasing an additional 5,039 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 15.4% during the fourth quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,935,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $370,128,000 after purchasing an additional 526,014 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at WEC Energy Group

In related news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $108.62, for a total value of $2,715,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 274,955 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,865,612.10. The trade was a 8.33% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,286,635.67. This trade represents a 4.98% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. StockNews.com upgraded WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $106.00 to $108.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank set a $115.00 price target on WEC Energy Group and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, WEC Energy Group presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.13.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:WEC opened at $107.28 on Tuesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12-month low of $77.47 and a 12-month high of $111.00. The stock has a market cap of $34.24 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day moving average of $106.97 and a 200-day moving average of $101.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.60 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.18 by $0.09. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The company had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.97 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 17.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Investors of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be paid a $0.8975 dividend. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. This represents a $3.59 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. WEC Energy Group’s payout ratio is 69.59%.

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.