Assetmark Inc. Grows Holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Assetmark Inc. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 26.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,998 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 7,335 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $3,366,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 5.2% in the third quarter. Massmutual Trust Co. FSB ADV now owns 2,248 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $216,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the second quarter. Bradley Foster & Sargent Inc. CT now owns 6,047 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $474,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 58.1% in the second quarter. Global X Japan Co. Ltd. now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Drake & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 2.0% in the third quarter. Drake & Associates LLC now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $598,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Park National Corp OH boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 3.4% in the third quarter. Park National Corp OH now owns 3,964 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WEC. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. KeyCorp lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $108.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $90.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of WEC Energy Group in a report on Thursday, September 19th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $102.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of WEC Energy Group from $91.00 to $93.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $94.45.

WEC Energy Group Stock Performance

WEC traded down $0.22 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $97.63. The stock had a trading volume of 2,456,354 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,161,474. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $30.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.44. The company's 50-day moving average price is $96.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $88.03. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a twelve month low of $75.13 and a twelve month high of $100.31.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. WEC Energy Group's revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.00 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

WEC Energy Group Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Sunday, December 1st. Shareholders of record on Thursday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $0.835 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, November 14th. This represents a $3.34 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. WEC Energy Group's payout ratio is currently 81.66%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at $716,208.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, VP William J. Guc sold 6,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $92.99, for a total value of $557,940.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,702 shares in the company, valued at $716,208.98. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Mary Beth Straka sold 3,240 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.04, for a total transaction of $301,449.60. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 3,662 shares in the company, valued at $340,712.48. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.34% of the company's stock.

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.