Invesco Ltd. Reduces Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Invesco Ltd. reduced its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 27.1% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,070,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,141,584 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd.’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $334,634,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in WEC. Hughes Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter worth approximately $32,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 252.6% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 342 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 2,420.0% in the 1st quarter. Creekmur Asset Management LLC now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 363 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stephens Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of WEC Energy Group by 138.6% in the 1st quarter. Stephens Consulting LLC now owns 544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $59,000 after buying an additional 316 shares during the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Scotiabank set a $115.00 target price on WEC Energy Group and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Barclays raised their target price on WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on WEC Energy Group and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut WEC Energy Group from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $106.40.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 5,960 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.98, for a total value of $661,440.80. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 274,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,516,059.62. This trade represents a 2.12% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Anthony Reese sold 4,177 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $110.30, for a total value of $460,723.10. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president directly owned 1,757 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $193,797.10. The trade was a 70.39% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 61,372 shares of company stock worth $6,789,843. 0.50% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.6%

WEC stock opened at $109.73 on Tuesday. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $87.71 and a twelve month high of $111.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.40, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $35.32 billion, a PE ratio of 21.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.42. The business has a 50 day moving average of $106.38 and a 200 day moving average of $105.89.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.05. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.87 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.67 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be issued a $0.8925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 68.39%.

WEC Energy Group Company 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.