WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) Shares Purchased by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,831 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the period. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $454,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of WEC. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in WEC Energy Group by 134.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 11,047,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,038,931,000 after purchasing an additional 6,329,574 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 4th quarter worth about $188,879,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in WEC Energy Group by 3,815.2% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,471,096 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,342,000 after acquiring an additional 1,433,522 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $462,276,000 after acquiring an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its stake in WEC Energy Group by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 3,935,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $370,128,000 after acquiring an additional 526,014 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.20% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other WEC Energy Group news, VP Joshua M. Erickson sold 2,155 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $107.77, for a total transaction of $232,244.35. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 2,686 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $289,470.22. This represents a 44.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Ulice Payne, Jr. sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $104.17, for a total value of $119,795.50. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,286,635.67. The trade was a 4.98% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 28,305 shares of company stock valued at $3,067,540 over the last 90 days. 0.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have weighed in on WEC. Wall Street Zen raised WEC Energy Group from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised WEC Energy Group from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $106.00 to $108.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on WEC Energy Group from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $107.13.

WEC Energy Group Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE WEC opened at $106.82 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $34.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.12, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.46. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $106.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $102.09. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 52 week low of $77.47 and a 52 week high of $111.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.60.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $2.27 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.18 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $3.15 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.81 billion. WEC Energy Group had a return on equity of 12.39% and a net margin of 17.75%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.97 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, June 1st. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be given a dividend of $0.8975 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $3.59 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.36%. This is a boost from WEC Energy Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.84. WEC Energy Group’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.