Blue Trust Inc. Has $1.50 Million Position in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC)

Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC - Free Report) by 24.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 15,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,121 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.'s holdings in WEC Energy Group were worth $1,504,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its stake in WEC Energy Group by 106,685.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,000,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,500,680,000 after acquiring an additional 25,975,652 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in WEC Energy Group by 1.3% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 7,952,851 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $762,453,000 after purchasing an additional 105,580 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in WEC Energy Group by 17.0% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 4,806,360 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $462,276,000 after buying an additional 699,177 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in WEC Energy Group by 17,270.5% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 4,718,179 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $453,794,000 after buying an additional 4,691,017 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of WEC Energy Group by 102.6% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,776,071 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $362,971,000 after buying an additional 1,912,223 shares in the last quarter. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

WEC Energy Group Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE WEC traded down $0.77 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $98.15. 2,276,762 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,930,238. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $75.13 and a 12 month high of $102.79. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $96.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.26. The company has a market capitalization of $31.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.00, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.37.

WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.70 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $1.86 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.93 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 15.14% and a return on equity of 11.72%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 4.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 4.89 EPS for the current year.

WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, March 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $0.835 per share. This represents a $3.34 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. WEC Energy Group's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 81.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on WEC. KeyCorp raised their price objective on WEC Energy Group from $108.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $97.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. StockNews.com upgraded shares of WEC Energy Group from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of WEC Energy Group from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays upgraded WEC Energy Group from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and increased their target price for the company from $89.00 to $93.00 in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, WEC Energy Group currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.40.

Insider Activity

In other WEC Energy Group news, CEO Scott J. Lauber sold 6,720 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Thursday, November 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $100.89, for a total transaction of $677,980.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 45,709 shares in the company, valued at $4,611,581.01. The trade was a 12.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Gale E. Klappa sold 40,269 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.56, for a total transaction of $4,009,181.64. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 273,248 shares of the company's stock, valued at $27,204,570.88. The trade was a 12.84 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 48,794 shares of company stock valued at $4,866,579. 0.34% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.